


The King's Pupil

by UndertaleTrashBin



Series: Gaster Family Tales [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (W.D does die in this), (spoilers but), Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Dadster, Depression, First chapter is all fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, No romo, Timelines
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-05-25 01:24:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 56,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6174712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndertaleTrashBin/pseuds/UndertaleTrashBin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The continuation of Skeleton Magic in the Gaster Family Tales series.<br/>This series takes place before Frisk falls and before/during/after Gaster takes his tumble. It will follow Sans through his understanding of what happens to Gaster, how he becomes the judge in the judgement hall, and even taps into Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus's growth into who they are in the canon Undertale verse! Strap in, this will be a ride.<br/>*There is no smut or romance in this fic. Only fluff and tears. Lots of tears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> BEFORE YOU READ-This is a continuation of the series, and will not make as much sense if you do not at least read the Skeleton Magic fic in the Gaster Family Tales series beforehand. This will be my longest fic yet, both word count and chapter wise so bare with me, folks!  
> This fic as of now is unbeta'd and unedited, so I may come back to it(I probably won't). I def won't be offended if you lemme know something i need to revise lmaooo
> 
> Like me for some reason in particular? I'm at Undertaletrashbin on tumblr as well!

Hey, you! Yeah, you! Make sure you read the author’s note before hopping into this fic! Shit's important af.

 

Sans was clearly distracted as Gaster prompted him to lift yet another object with his magic. Papyrus had long since been put to bed, but now that it was partially Gaster’s duty to teach Sans, Gaster kept him up later and later.

{C’mon, last one, buddy.} Gaster handed Sans an object bigger than the one Sans had just successfully set back down on the table nicely. A tired groan fell out from the boy,

“don’t i start lessons with asgore tomorrow?”

{That’s off topic, but yes.} Gaster prompted him on with slight annoyance, Sans was smart, talented, and occasionally active, he could be a huge asset to the underground if he would JUST stay on topic!

“i need to sleeeep.” Sans sighed out as he laid his head in his arms.

{Last one.} Gaster nudged the ball toward Sans, who stared at it for a moment before encompassing it in magic and flinging it into the air. It slammed into the ceiling, breaking the tile before falling back down to hit Gaster on the head.

“oops.” Sans’s reaction was half genuine- he hadn’t meant to damage the ceiling.

{You did that on purpose, don’t ‘oops’ me.} Gaster accused, albeit lightheartedly. Sans shrugged and slipped out of his chair.

“g’night, pops.” Sans groggily stretched his arms over his head with a yawn.

{Wait! You won’t have a lesson with me tomorrow, please behave for Asgore.}

“mm, sure, dad. g’night.”

{And don’t forget to study!}

“i’m going upstairs now.”

{And wear the nice sweater, you know the one with the-} Gaster heard the door slam from upstairs before turning back to his work.

_________________________________

 

The next morning Papyrus woke his brother up like usual, excitably and with much reluctance from Sans. He talked on and on to his half asleep brother about what all has happened at school since he was gone, clearly Sans needed a much more detailed report now that the two didn’t go to school together. The speech got interrupted periodically by the boy shoving a shirt over his head or Papyrus just getting distracted.

“And then the principal was all like- SANS!! Are you asleep?!” Mid-snore Sans snorted at the sound, surprising himself awake.

“hm? wha’s that bro?” His speech was a bit slurred from sleepiness, he had somehow wiggled himself into one of the sweaters Gaster had insisted he wear as a sort of uniform while Papyrus had been talking.

“Don’t fall asleep, brother! Let’s go down for breakfast!” Papyrus snatched his brother’s hand and practically dragged him out the door.

“mmkay. what were you saying about school?”

“OH RIGHT! As I was saying-” Papyrus launched back into his story and Sans tuned him out absentmindedly.

The two stumbled into the kitchen to see their dad awake and cooking up something that smelled pretty good. They moved to take their respective seats at the table, Pap pausing his story to greet their dad.

“GOOD MORNING, DAD!” Papyrus made his father jump at the intrusive sound, but Gaster simply turned around to greet them as well,

{Breakfast is almost ready! Sans, can you walk your brother to school and pick him up afterwards? It’s not too far out of the way of Asgore’s.} Gaster nodded at Sans’s appearance in approval, the boy could be stubborn about what he wore so Gaster was relieved to not have another argument about it that particular morning.

“sure, pops.” Sans grinned sleepily, plopping next to Papyrus at the table.

{Thank you.} Gaster took a long drink of his coffee before getting drinks out for the boys. Papyrus continued explaining what all had happened after Sans had to leave school two days ago, Gaster nodding along encouraging, as Sans began considering the day he had ahead of him. 

The king had certainly been kind to him the other day, and he had a good reputation, but Sans really didn’t have a clue about what to expect. He was a bit anxious, but mostly excited. Magic tingled at his fingertips, it was just nervous tension but he quickly dispersed it. His attention was brought back to the table when Gaster spoke,

“-ans? Sans!” His brother and dad looked at him, worried expressions rested upon their faces.

“hm?” Sans murmured a bit surprised, “what?”

“We asked if you’re excited for your day!!” Papyrus repeated excitedly, immediately going back to their conversation as if nothing had happened. Gaster still peered at him with concern, but didn’t question him. Sans let an easy grin slide onto his face, he  _ was _ excited afterall.

“yeah! training is always fun, right pap?” Sans feigned more excitement than he really had at that time in the morning, and Papyrus nodded eagerly, reassured by his response. Pap finished up his breakfast, Sans rarely ate all of his anyway so he shoved his plate over to the growing monster. Papyrus accepted it quickly and shoveled it in. Gaster took their plates just as they finished to wash them off, and Sans waited patiently as his brother ran about to gather his school supplies before they could leave. Gaster looked at Sans, like something was at the tip of his metaphorical tongue. Sans recognized the calculating gaze,

“i’ll be fine.” Sans grinned reassuringly, and Gaster shook his head with a sigh before smiling back.

{I know. Be good. Asgore said he’ll provide lunch.} Gaster gave him a quick hug before Sans went to gather his own stuff for the day.

Papyrus had most of his stuff gathered and was waiting impatiently by the door. “Sans! Hurry up! I’ll be late!!” Sans quickly grabbed the small deactivated gaster blasters and put them in his backpack along with a notebook and pencils.

“i’m coming!” He put on a good pair of shoes before rushing down the stairs and following Papyrus out the door.

“HAVE A GOOD DAY, DAD!”

“bye!” Gaster heard the door slam behind them before he could respond.

_________________________________

 

The walk to school was oddly silent between the boys and as they neared the edge of the campus, Sans came to a stop. Since he had been suspended, he wasn’t allowed on school premises, but it was close enough to drop Papyrus off anyway.

“well, have a good day bro.” His grin widened as Papyrus hugged him tightly.

“Have fun, brother! Train hard!” Pap sounded almost... Sad. Sans’s grin softened and he hugged back.

“i will, lil bro, i will.” Papyrus pulled back and laughed before running off to the schoolyard.

Sans only hesitated for a moment to watch him safely make it to the doors before pulling out a map of the elevator systems. It was a bit convoluted, but if the elevators were working(which rarely all of them were) he wouldn’t have to go through the core. Sans began walking to the closest elevator on the map, he was actually really close to the core and the main housing complex of the capital. Oddly enough, the steam vents led him to right by Muffet’s parlor. There was a bit of a line out front of the parlor. Mostly monsters on their way to work. Sans came to a stop at the end of the line, only a little nervous. The line didn’t last long, and with the hope that Muffet wouldn’t make him pay a large fee, he walked into the web covered parlor. Sans strolled in, trying to exude confidence. It was hard for a child in an environment they weren’t used to.

“ _ Ahuhuhu~ _ ” the laughter was a bit piercing in the mostly silent room, and Sans would be lying if he said he didn’t jump. “And who might you be, little skeleton?”

“nobody. definitely not a  _ spy-der _ .” he chuckled nervously, creating a dramatic pause between ‘spy’ and ‘der’ to emphasize the pun. There was a distinct lack of laughter as Muffet slowly descended from the ceiling.

“Just passing through, I assume?” She asked, humming a bit. Her gaze was piercing and Sans could feel the eyes of several spiders on him.

“yeah, i’m seeing the king.” Sans shifted in place, avoiding eye contact with the eight eyed woman.

“Ahuhu~ Sounds important. For you, only 15g.” Sans let out a sigh of relief as he dug through his pockets for the exact change. 15g he could deal with, it was the horror stories of people who pissed the woman off and got bills of 500g that he couldn’t. Sans knelt down and handed the gold to a small, helpful spider who counted it and motioned him on.

“ _ Have a good day, dearie! _ ” Muffet’s voice echoed behind him as he hurried to the elevator just outside of the entrance to the apartment complex. The complex doubled as an entrance to the core, but Sans hoped he wouldn’t have to go through it.

Once Sans entered the elevator, he searched his map for which button would send him to the elevator express room. He pressed the button, the elevator whirring to life, before exiting into an unfamiliar hall of elevators. With a glance of the map, he began looking at the elevators, trying to pinpoint the one labeled ‘C1’. It was the only abandoned one, all the others were in use and had horrible lines in front of them of monsters going to and fro whatever job they had. It was weird to be alone using public transportation, Sans thought as he entered the elevator that quickly came on and began moving. He waited patiently in the elevator. The mechanical sounds came to a stop as a somewhat loud ‘ding’ went off to signal the door opening.

Sans stepped out and shifted his backpack, making sure he still had his stuff before following the long path. The hallway opened out to what would be a skyline view of the capital, he paused to stare, a bit in awe. It wasn’t like most monsters got to see such a thing very often, if at all. With a sigh, he hurried on ahead, worried he’d be late. He was quickly greeted by the sight of a warm looking house, and he smiled before making his way to the front door and rapping on it gently. Sans heard a few noise from within followed by a familiar voice,

“Coming!” And several footsteps. The door creaked open to show Asgore, figure clearly too large for the door frame he had to bend down to be fully seen. The king smiled down at Sans, “Oh! Hello, Sans. You’re right on time. Come in!” He opened the door wider and stepped aside to let Sans in. He looked around, taking the home in. It smelled of flowers and sweets, it was pretty roomy, a whole family could live there. All in all, it wasn’t a house he couldn’t imagine in Snowdin or outside of the castle. Asgore shut the door gently behind him.

“Would you like some tea before we get started? I just made a fresh pot of hot water.” Asgore motioned them into the dining/living room where a pot of water sat steaming on a hot pad on the table. Sans walked in, it was cozy with a little fire place pit and a comfy looking chair and a solid dining room table. 

“sure, your majes- _ tea _ .” Sans laughed inwardly, but felt a bit disappointed when he saw the joke didn’t seem to connect with Asgore. He shifted his bag from his back to rest on the floor beside his chair before taking a seat. 

“Oh! You can just call me Asgore.” Asgore was already pouring himself a cup of golden flower tea.

“hehe, ok.” Sans settled into his seat and watched as Asgore carefully prepared the tea.

“Sugar?” Asgore asked while putting a few cubes in his own cup. Sans shrugged,

“It’ll go right through me anyway.” The joke kinda slipped out, Sans could barely help it at this point, but Asgore raised an eyebrow.

“Really? Can skeletons eat? Your father has never given me a straight answer.” He scrunched up his snout in slight annoyance at the thought. Sans just giggled, feeling another pun coming on.

“yeah, we can. he’s just messing with your funny  _ bone _ .” Asgore chuckled out loud, the feeling of warmth was accompanied by longing for a time a few years passed. The puns were both amusing and nostalgic.

“Well, on a more serious note, I was thinking we would do some simple magic stuff today. Nothing too stressful.” Asgore hummed before taking a careful sip, watching Sans blow on the cup of tea he had been handed.

“ok. combat or practical usage?” Sans fell into a more calculated language and attitude as the tone of conversation shifted. It was like when he worked with Gaster; play time vs. work time.

“We’ll get around to both, neither today, though. Today, we’ll work on sensing magic and becoming aware of it when it’s being used or about to be used.” Asgore spoke in a calm and collected tone, before taking another long sip of tea. Sans seemed intrigued by this, he could pretty easily tell when there was a high concentration of magic in a particular area he walked through or part of someone’s body, but what Asgore described seemed to be a little more indepth than his natural sense. They sat in relative silence as Sans mulled over the idea of sensing magic better and the two finished their tea. Asgore let out a loud yawn, and stood to stretch. Sans hopped out of the chair that was far too big for him and grabbed his bag.

“Ready?” Asgore asked, smiling.

“here?” Sans looked around, genuinely surprised.

“No, no. Follow me.” Asgore made his way back to the entryway, and Sans followed foot for foot. The two made their way down the stairs. They walked through the somewhat twisty hallway before being greeted with the view of the capital again. Sans paused to look out at it again, he didn’t know if he’d ever get tired of the view. Asgore stopped to let him catch up.

“It’s beautiful, is it not?” Sans looked up to the king’s face, a strange sense of peace washed over it. He simply nodded and continued staring for a moment or two before moving on with the patiently waiting Asgore. Before they entered the next hall, Sans saw an elevator and looked at it with curiosity.

“where does that lead?” He asked.

“To the elevator before my home. The hallways can be tedious.” Asgore shrugged and walked into the next hall. The sight was stunning yet again. Faux sunlight streamed in from large stained glass windows on either side of the hall, the rays split by large pillars. The entire room was basked in a warm orange glow that wasn’t entirely comforting or entirely condemning. Sans decided he liked it. When the two made it about halfway down the hall, an old monster stepped out from behind a pillar.

“Goodday, king fluffybuns! Wa ha ha.” The turtle chortled, opening an eye to peer down at Sans, “May I ask who you have there with you today?”

“Howdy, Gerson! This is Sans, he’s my new apprentice.” Asgore placed a paw on Sans’s skull, who grinned up at the old turtle with a bit of interest.

“hi.” Sans’s greeting was a bit dull, but it did the job. Gerson seemed to stare at him, giving him a once over and he kept his neutral grin on his face. It could be oddly unreadable at times, not that it was usually a problem for him.

“Well, usually it’s my job to judge if you’re up to seeing king fluffybuns here, but it looks like he’s already made that decision himself! Ha ha ha.” It was Gerson’s indirect way of approving of the king’s decision, even if it wasn’t outright. He may be retired as Captain of the royal guard, but there were a few positions that needed filling until a permanent and trusted, replacement could be found, plus the turtle monster didn’t mind. Sans nodded,

“i’m glad you’ll let me pass, otherwise it would be a  _ turtle _ disaster.” His grin widened as he could see the two adults realize that he made a pun, Asgore belted out his laughter, and Gerson just chuckled.

“That sense of humor will do ya’ fine, kid.” Sans thanked him and waved as Asgore led him into the throne room. Asgore hummed and picked up a watering can, carefully caring for the tiny garden of four or five flowers.

“I hope these flowers will adapt to grow elsewhere in the underground. Aren’t they pretty?” Asgore carefully touched a petal with his finger, and Sans nodded.

“we have echo flowers, at least.” Sans kneeled beside the flower bed and watched each flower get carefully watered.

“Yes, but they don’t hold the same fragrance. They’re just strange natural recording devices.” Asgore set the can aside, then took a seat beside the little patch of flowers. Sans fell back onto his bottom as well, relaxing a bit against the soft grass. Asgore brought a paw up to cup the bud of a wilting flower, capturing Sans’s attention. A spark of magic flitted through the air, and the flower seemed to almost inhale as it regained color and life.

“Sans,” Asgore spoke, and Sans whipped his head up from staring at the plant. “do you know how to check something’s ‘hp’? Outside of a battle, I mean.” Sans gave it some thought before shaking his head. Asgore stared at him for a long moment, and Sans grew a bit uncomfortable. The moment didn’t last too long before Asgore closed his eyes, the silent was just as uncomfortable for Sans. Eventually, Asgore opened his eyes and his stare became less concentrated and more concerned. “1 hp?”

“oh, uhm. yeah.” Sans scratched at his skull idly, slightly embarrassed. Asgore just shrugged, going on to explain,

“In battle or in training, you can see your opponent’s soul. By checking the soul, you can tell their stats. Defense, hp, and attack. It’s surprisingly similar outside of battle, you have to focus in and  _ see _ a person’s soul.” Asgore smiled, gently touching the flower he healed’s petals.

“Doctors use this method to evaluate a monster’s health for instance. But when you have a certain level of magic, it seeps into the air around you, and you can use that to sense a monster’s soul.” Sans nodded, thinking carefully before letting himself relax. Usually monsters spend a lot of energy keeping magic contained within their person or just outside of it, and despite the Gaster Blasters helping manage a lot of the excess magic, Sans still had a lot. He let the excess surround them, and looked up at Asgore a bit lost.

“how do i...?”

“It’s about understanding your magic and feeling it as an extension of you. It can make your presence feel bigger, but it can also put those around you at ease or on edge. Give it a shot, we have plenty of time.”

Sans and Asgore sat there for a long time, Sans would occasionally distract himself with the petals of the flowers in front of him or in frustration of pull blades of grass out from the patch. Asgore was patient, giving helpful advice every once in awhile or calmly asking what progress Sans was making. Nearly an hour later, Sans fell back into the grass, panting lightly.

“Are you ok?” Asgore asked with a bit of concern, he didn’t want to push the boy beyond his capabilities.

“yeah. just frustrating...” Sans murmured the last part under his breath, Asgore chuckled and laid back as well.

“Take your time. There’s no rush.” Asgore’s tone was soothing, Sans liked it but couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed at the same time. He thought it over... what did he know about souls? Sans had learned blue magic pretty quickly, the way the manipulate an opponent's soul ‘gravity’ in a battle. He got that, but there were rules surrounding it, too. Asgore had said it dealt more with your magic, not the soul itself. An idea occurred to him suddenly, and he shut his eyes. The magic in the room was calm, but it seemed to resonate slightly. He could feel his magic, familiar and blue, but among it there was a just as calming but not quite familiar magic.

There. That was the magic he wanted to learn about. Start over, Sans pretended he don’t know who owned it, didn’t know anything about the magic other than its feeling in the air around him. His own magic traced it back to its root, the soul. The image of the heart seemed to appear in his head, he could  _ see  _ the soul, just like Asgore had said! The excitement broke his concentration, and he bolted up.

“i did it!” Sans boasted out proudly, turning to look at the half asleep Asgore. The king opened an eye, amused at seeing him actually excited for the first time.

“What were my stats?” Asgore saw his apprentice's face dropped, a bit disappointed.

“oh, uh... oops. i saw your soul, though!” Sans’s grin brightened back up a bit as Asgore chuckled.

“You know how you did it, though, right?” There was clear pride in his voice, though he still laid back on the grass. Sans nodded, “Then try again, this time remember what it’s like in battle to check someone’s stats.” Sans flopped back onto the ground and closed his eyes, trying to go back to the calm feeling from before. It took a bit for his magic to settle, the excitement had disrupted it, and it took even longer for him to be able to feel it out. His blue magic surrounded the area, and he found Asgore’s soul again. He looked at it, glowing with a royal purple. It flickered occasionally, like a fire, and Sans tried to remember how to check a soul’s stats. Frustration began bubbling up quickly, his magic grew a bit more volatile than he meant and the soul faded from purple to blue with a ‘ting’.

Asgore gasped out loud as he felt a strange weight in his chest and began falling... up? His front connected with the ceiling roughly, though not enough to cause any actual hp damage. As soon as he connected he began falling back down, Sans stood and stared at him with a terrified expression on his face.

“i didn’t mean to, uhm, are you ok?” The boy shifted nervously, and Asgore just burst out laughing.

“Ahhh, I was not expecting that, my child.” Asgore got up on his feet, and Gerson walked in from the judgement hall.

“You all alright in here? There was a lot of noise. You’re not training without me, are ya’?” The turtle gave Sans the stink eye, which didn’t help the guilty expression on the usually neutral face.

“Yes, yes. We were not training, but no one is hurt. Thank you Gerson.” Asgore let his laughter die down into chuckles and set a paw on Sans’s shoulder. Gerson looked at him suspiciously but waddled back out to the hall. The king turned back to Sans,

“Blue magic sure is something, huh?” That prompted a little laugh out of Sans, mostly in relief, though.

“you’re ok?” The question was quiet and so very small. Poor kid wasn’t used to what his magic could do.

“I’m fine, Sans! Takes more than that to take out the king.” He chuckled, taking a seat on the ground again. “Why don’t you give it another shot?”

“are you sure?” Sans sat back on the ground too, still a bit worried. Asgore only nodded, and Sans closed his eyes again. He was able to get a wrangle on his magic much quicker this time, and pulled up the image of the purple soul again.

Pushing his own magic onto the soul clearly wasn’t the way to go. Sans considered his magic again, but pulled it back from the king’s soul while still looking at it. Act, he reached out, and it didn’t even take touching the soul for the stats to pop up. Finally, 3 hours later, Sans succeeded. Atk 80, Def 80, and HP 983/1000.

“wow,” Sans let out a huff of air in surprise. Impressive. Asgore sat up with a wide smile. “you’re really strong.” Sans admitted before sitting up as well, a new respect upon his face. Everyone knew he was strong, but very few actual got to spar with the man.

“So what were my stats?”

“80 atk and def, your hp wasn’t at its max it was like 900 something.” Sans barely glanced at it, it wasn’t like he was trying to memorize the stat. “why wasn’t it full?”

“I gave some of my hp to the flower,” Asgore touched the, now blooming, flower lightly with his paw.

“ohhh,” Sans looked thoughtfully at the flower, but frowned suddenly, “i guess i wouldn’t be able to do that, huh?”

“It depends, proper training or age might help that. Who knows? Anything could happen.” Asgore shrugged, standing up. “How does a lunch break sound?”

“good.” Sans grinned up at him, before standing up to follow.

_________________________________

 

Sans sat at the table, almost annoyed at the height of the chairs, but the ability to swing his legs  _ was _ nice. Asgore was humming in the kitchen, something he seemed to do a lot to fill the space, and Sans could hear the clank of a pan against the metal tray of the stove. The lesson was a lot to take in, and Sans thought it over as he swung his legs under the table. There were stats other than the ones that he had sought out when ‘seeing’ Asgore’s soul, and he was curious if he could see those too. Everyone knew what LOVE stood for, along with EXP, they were simple facts that one learned from the moment they heard about magic. Asgore entered the room with another pot of hot water, and Sans gave an undignified snort of amusement,

“nice to  _ tea _ that you are still here and didn’t up and  _ leaf  _ me.” The puns really were a menace, they just kept coming. Asgore let out a few chuckles,

“You are quite quick witted with those, Sans.” He poured two cups of tea and sat back to let them steep. Sans leaned his head on his hands, grin unwavering though he was lost in thought. With a split second decision he closed his eyes, using his magic to call out to Asgore’s soul again. This time, instead of typical stats he tried gathering more information. He got a level pretty easily, LV 20, the max, but when he tried to push for the exact EXP, it was almost like he got cut off. Asgore spoke a few moments after he opened his eyes, glancing at Sans before handing him a cup,

“It’s rude to snoop without others knowing, Sans.” Asgore plopped a few cubes of sugar in his cup before taking a long sip.

“oh, uh, sorry...” Sans took a drink as well, and Asgore chuckled,

“That’s quite alright for now, just keep it in mind.” He mumbled the next part into his tea, “Your father certainly wouldn’t be impressed by that prying...” Sans wasn’t exactly  _ not _ meant to hear that, but it did make him even more curious about his father’s stats.

“but i can see stats other than hp, attack, and defense?” The question was accompanied by the most innocent grin Sans could muster, causing Asgore to let out a sigh,

“Well, yes, but it’s usually more difficult than just that. Were you able to see anything?” The king raised an eyebrow, curious.

“just your lv, it wouldn’t let me see your exp.” Sans answered honestly, feeling a bit nervous. Asgore just shrugged and sipped on his tea, a weird silence falling between them. It wasn’t too long later that they heard a ding in the other room, indicating that lunch was ready.

“Oh! I will be right back.” After carefully pushing his half full cup of tea back so he wouldn’t bump it, Asgore stood and rushed to the kitchen. Sans, left to his own devices at the table, frowned to himself. He hoped he hadn’t offended Asgore, it certainly wasn’t his intentions. A sense of panic ran through him at the idea that he might have messed up again, and he tried desperately to dismiss the thought. His feet stopped swinging and he looked to the kitchen, sighing. Nah, it’ll be okay, it wasn’t like Asgore had kicked him out.

The king walked back in with two steaming plates of snail pie, and Sans made an effort to have his natural grin return to his face. Asgore set Sans’s plate down first, then took his own seat and dug in. Most of the underground was well acquainted with the strange taste of snail pie, it was pretty much a traditionally dish at that point. However, Sans hadn’t had the pleasure of trying it at that point, and his face reflexively scrunched up at the taste. Asgore didn’t seem to notice his reaction, but despite the strong taste, it really wasn’t a bad flavor. Oddly intrigued, Sans nearly finished the plate before stopping.

“... do you have ketchup?” The question was a bit out of the blue, but Asgore nodded despite the confused look on his face.

“Would you like some?”

“yes please.” Sans’s grin widened as Asgore stood to get the bottle from the fridge. When he came back, Asgore set the bottle on the tablet and Sans grabbed it eagerly. He only hesitated a moment before lathering the few bites of pie left with the condiment. “thank you!” They finished up their lunch, Sans nodding appreciatively at the taste ketchup added to it.

“Did you like it?” The king smiled almost... nervously? Sans’s grin widened,

“yes! it was good, what was it?” The question was innocent, but Asgore gasped in overdramatic shock.

“Snail pie! Does Gaster never make you boys this?” He was already formulating a way to make Sans take the rest of the pie home for dinner as Sans shook his head,

“The only pi-e we have is 3.1415926535979323-”

“I get the point.” Asgore spoke with a chuckle, the boy was knowledgable with his puns. “Would you like to take the rest of the pie home? I’m sure your little brother would like to try it.” Sans considered the proposition for a moment before nodding.

“pap would probably like to try something new... oh! i have to go pick him up soon.” He glanced at the clock, reminded of the promise he made to pick up his bro from school. It was only about 1:30, so there was a few more hours before he had to leave.

“Well, the next part of the lesson shouldn’t take too long, especially since you already started it on your own.” Asgore gave him a somewhat amused look as Sans processed what he meant and stood to head back down to the throne room.

“seeing lv and exp?” Sans shot out, standing up to follow the king.

“Precisely!”

The rest of the afternoon was fairly simple, after Sans had gotten the initial idea of it, taking it further wasn’t too hard. Gerson even agreed to let Sans test the newfound skill on him. He also gained a lot of speed as he practiced the skill, it almost came as second nature to him whenever another monster got close enough. Two hours passed and Sans stood from the bed of flowers suddenly.

“well, i probably should go take my bro home.” His bones popped as he stretched out, and Asgore looked up,

“Oh! Do not forget the pie from my house, have a good night!”

“g’night asgore!”

_________________________________

 

“how was your day?” Sans fell into a lazy pace next to his brother who was practically bouncing in excitement.

“GOOD! Really good!” Pap grinned and adjusted his bag, “But what about your day? What was the king like?”

“pretty royal,” Papyrus groaned, complaining that that one was barely a pun before he let Sans continue “you would like him. he made some pie for you to try, there’s enough for dinner if dad doesn’t wanna make any.” Sans returned the grin.

“Sounds delicious!”

“anyway, what happened today that made it so good?” Sans turned the attention back on Papyrus, it was more fun to hear the other’s excitement anyway.

“Oh! I made a new friend today and she’s super cool! She could beat up ANYONE!” The boy swung his arms about for emphasis.

“huh. sounds cool, bro. did you play with her during recess?” They were nearly home by that point, since they were coming upon the river person.

“YEAH! We played like we were in the royal guard and she was the best.” They quieted down so Sans could tell the river person to head to Snowdin, and they landed quickly.

“that’s cool, bro. i met a member of the royal guard today, actually.” Sans recalled Gerson, the old turtle seemed quite friendly, and if that was what the royal guard was then maybe Pap  _ was _ meant for the guard.

“Wowie, Sans! Really?!” The two made their way to the house, it was lit up with the dim lights, indicating Gaster was home. There was a sense of calm as the two continued talking and made their way inside. Dinner was snail pie and everything was cool in the house in Snowdin.


	2. That Escalated Quickly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's pretty obvious pretttttyyyyyy quickly why this chapter is named this lmao.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh sorry for all the transitions in this I jumped around A LOT. so sorry lmao.
> 
> Yooo do you like editing? Read through my writing and pick out all my dumb errors? Then, hey! I’m actually thinking about asking for beta readers? If anyone is interested let me know! That way we could get some more polished chapters out there, especially with the lengths that these ones will be.

Everyone in the underground was on edge. A human had fallen and had reportedly been seen in Snowdin. The human didn’t seem to be seeking monsters out, but unfortunately several monsters had been presumably dusted by the human. Children were told to stay indoors and to never open a door before peering out the window. The royal guard would escort trails of children to school each and every day IF school was in session, and quite frankly, Papyrus was bored out of his wits from it.

He pondered this while staring at his brother and father hard at work in the living room. Despite his lack of learning in the past week due to the sixth human’s arrival, Sans had not been so hindered with his teacher so close to home and his ability to use shortcuts to get to Asgore’s. They were working on a project of Gaster’s and it took up most of the living room. Parts were haphazardly tossed into piles all over the room. Gaster was working on the partially built machine set in a little red wagon in the center of the room. Sans sat on the couch, scratching at the back of his skull with a pencil absentmindedly.

Papyrus hopped around the carefully placed piles to plop onto the couch next to his brother. He dug his feet under Sans’s shorter body for warmth, alerting him to Pap’s presence.

“oh, hey pap.” Sans shifted so the feet weren’t uncomfortably situated under him.

“Hello, brother! How is the project going?” Papyrus tried to look over his shoulder at the clipboard, but it was a set of directions in wing dings. Gaster was still in the process of teaching Pap the written language, but progress had been stalled due to his excitement for whatever machine the two were currently working on was. Their father let out a huge groan all of a sudden, and began angrily taking pieces off the wagon and tossing them into random piles throughout the room.

“ehhhhh.” A few beads of sweat appeared on his 12 year old brother’s brow. It was only about 11 in the morning, and after lunch Sans had to head to Asgore’s. Gaster ran a hand over his skull,

{Break.} The man took a deep breath and walked off into the kitchen, most likely for a cup of coffee. Sans chuckled a bit, slightly worried since he knew his father had been up all night.

“i hope he didn’t forget i need to leave soon... oh! i have an idea! why don’t you help him, pap?” Sans looked excitedly to his brother, who for once seemed uncertain.

“Well, I understand why you would assume someone as GREAT as me would be capable of that, Sans, but I don’t know... I can’t read wing dings yet.” Papyrus frowned for a moment until Sans poked his cheek.

“hey. don’t do that.” Sans grinned wider as the 7 year old looked up at him with a mix of confusion and surprise. Papyrus batted the hand away playfully, deepening his frown mostly out of spite.

“Don’t do what?”

“that!” Sans poked his brother’s face again, only to be batted back again, but this time Papyrus couldn’t hide his giggle. “i can get you a translation sheet if that would help, but there are other things i’m sure dad could use your help with!” Sans gave his bro a half hug, which Papyrus nodded into.

“Of course! Wing dings can’t hold me back from being the great and helpful Papyrus!” He stood from the embrace and proudly puffed out his chest before making his way through the messy living room without stepping on any parts to go talk to their dad.

Sans began gathering up his pencils and stuffing them into his backpack with a yawn. Gaster had woken him up pretty early that morning to work, the man was going crazy with being stuck at home and without access to the lab. The human was last sighted going into waterfall, and no one had seen them for days, but there also hadn’t been anyone declaring they had captured the human’s soul. As a result, most monsters just lived in a sort of fear until something certain could be decided. Gaster wasn’t one to succumb to such things, but Asgore had demanded that anyone other than merchants and folks that had to keep things running(like the core) take time off. In the middle of packing up his bag, the tv flashed from its usual static to a somewhat blurry image of a news reporter. The monster didn’t waste any time,

“Attention! All monsters in the Hotland and Capital region should be on high alert! The human was sighted making its way out through the ventilation regions here,” They pointed to a map of Hotland and indicated a region just beyond Muffet’s parlor. Sans hoped she and the other spiders were ok. He was distractedly staring at the screen, Gaster clearing his voice snapped him out of the daze.

{You need to leave soon, kid.} Sans saw his eyelights glance toward the screen, and the man huffed in irritation, mumbling under his breath about Asgore not letting him take on the human.

“is it safe...?” Sans wasn’t really all that worried about it, a year of magic training had done him more than one might think. Gaster just shrugged, the two had sparred and Gaster was probably more confident in his son than he should have been.

{Have a snack with us before you go,} Sans’s grin widened to match the smile Gaster shot him, {You can use any edge you can get against Asgore.} Sans laughed,

“aw, come on, dad. there’s a reason he’s the king! plus he pulls his attacks a lot, he’s really worried about the whole 1 hp thing.” He rolled his eyes, tossing his bag on the couch before making his way into the kitchen. Gaster shut off the tv behind them.

_________________________________

 

Ever since the human had been out and about, Gerson had been taking his post in the judgement hall more seriously. Over the year he had opened up a shop in waterfall and befriended a few of the monsters in the region, especially a fiery little red headed monster with a lot of energy and a big attitude. The last week hadn’t afforded him the luxury of working the shop, though. Everyone knew the human had at least one monster soul on them, and if they were to get passed Gerson when the king wasn’t there to stop them they could exit through the barrier no problem.

The old turtle leaned against his slightly outdated warhammer in the judgement hall as he thought this all through. With the sightings of the human getting closer, his main concern had more to do with the king’s young pupil showing up to pass through at an inopportune time. Gerson sighed at the thought of the kid. From what they could tell, this human, like many others, was either a child or simply a very young human. He hoped the king wouldn’t have to see him take the poor kid out. Despite Asgore’s still wounded heart, he had such a soft spot for children. A noise made his head snap up, but it was only Asgore’s steps clicking down the hall toward the throne room. He straightened up at the sight of the king.

“ ‘Morning, fluffybuns.” Gerson chuckled a bit, and Asgore smiled broadly, if a bit forced looking, at him,

“Good morning, Gerson.” He clapped his old friend on the shoulder before continuing down the hall. The poor man seemed resigned to the potential of a fight already. It had been a while coming, first word of the human had been over a week ago, but typically humans had been taken care of long before making it to even Hotland.

After that the judgement hall was boring. The faux sunlight streamed in through the windows, a warm orange that resembled Gerson’s distant memories of the surface’s sunsets. He didn’t think much when he heard a quiet pitter patter of tiny feet, after all, Sans was due to come in soon and the footsteps resembled the skeleton’s closely. As the form shambled closer, Gerson went on high alert, the stripes weren’t the blue of his small skeleton friend and the hat resting upon the creature’s head reached a height several inches higher than Sans would. They stood a few steps from the warhammer wielding judge with a confidence the turtle had seen from many humans before.

It wasn’t anything personal. Sure, the kid may have deserved it more than other humans that had fallen, but it had less to do with actually making a judgement. If the kid made it passed him, Asgore would be forced to kill them, and while it  _ was _ the king that declared the war and the killings, he was not the murderer. Muffet had gotten one years ago, Gerson had taken the first, and, much to Asgore’s displeasure, Gaster himself had even taken a soul(though that was more because the man wanted to study it before it got taken away, and it was partially the reason why the king demanded the royal scientist stay home this time around). The others had been taken by various sentries throughout the underground. With a darkened expression, Gerson let out a humorless chuckle.

“Well, we better get to it then, hm?” The kid’s soul popped from their chest, a golden yellow. Gerson gave himself to marvel at how none of the souls had repeated the color of another. He was brought back into the thick of it by the first swing. The first turn went to the human, and the kid was a surprisingly good shot. He nailed the attack, but Gerson had high defense, it would be a long run with a weapon that only dealt one hit per turn.

It didn’t deter the human, and the battle waged onward. Gerson came to a gasping halt, breathing heavy. The child in front of him was worn out as well. They had just used the last of their healing items, recovering back to full health. Gerson let out an uncharacteristic growl of annoyance, his own hp was down past half, it wouldn’t take more than two or three more good shots from the kid and he’d be dusted.

He swung with all his might, his magic flowing through the attacks. The human didn’t dodge flawlessly, but he dodged better than Gerson would have liked. The next shot from the human was dead on. The old turtle grit his teeth, his remaining health down to just 100. One more hit would dust him for sure, but he wasn’t down for the count yet.

“Wahaha... Ha...” He chuckled, propping himself up on the warhammer. “You’re...” He inhaled sharply, struggling to stay upright and conscious as he slowly recovered, “uh... quite the shot, there huh, kid?” The human glanced down at their weapon, frowning in indecision. It seems even they knew what would happen next.  _ That’s right, just lay down the gun and stop fighting.  _ Gerson thought, but the child raised the weapon again, tears flecking at the corner of their eyes.

“I’m... uhm, I’m sorry-”

“GERSON!” There was a loud cry resounding in the hall, startling both parties of the fight. Sans came sprinting down the hall toward the two. The noise had been sudden, but it wasn’t shocking enough to deter the human. They turned back to Gerson, aiming with a new determination. Now or never.

Sans’s eye lit up, blue flame flickering brighter than it ever had before. Magic permeated every molecule of the room, even the human had to be able to feel it. Sans flung his hand in front of him, shoving every ounce of magic into the attack. All his training came down to that moment. The attack was filled with each grain of anger; for the dusted monsters outside the castle, for Gerson before him, for the human forcing his family indoors, for  _ everything _ the human had caused. Bones flew up from the ground with little warning. The attack skewered the human from all angles, their body held just above the ground by the force of the attack. A single bone shoved itself fatally and directly through the yellow heart and twisted. There wasn’t even time for the human to scream. The gun fell from their hand to the ground and clattered to the side.

Gerson and Sans stared in shock. The bones disappeared as quickly as they had appeared in the first place, and the body fell with a sickening thump. Sans felt a sense of warmth and heard a slight ding. His LV had gone up, though it did little to nothing for his stats. It was then, staring down at the body, that Sans learned that humans didn’t dust like monsters. He waited several long and expectant moments in shocked silence. Shakily, he walked over and fell to the ground by the dead form, staring as the face previously twisted in fear smoothed into one of a peaceful emptiness he’d never seen before. Regret, fear, and anger washed over him in a rush of emotion, forming a pit in his stomach.

An ache suddenly ran through him as he recognized the stripes decorating the clothing on the human’s figure. He didn’t recognize it in the panic of the moment, but they had been a kid, like him. Like Papyrus. Sans would have sat there, staring for an eternity with tears pricking the corners of his eye sockets had Gerson not acted. The turtle grunted and picked up the limp body, surprisingly strong for his weakened state. He spoke quietly, barely within Sans’s earshot,

“Thank you, kid.” Not surprisingly, this was no consolation to him, and an uncontrollable series of sobs and hiccups fell from the 12 year old. Blood had pooled in front of him, creating a trail as Gerson lugged the body to the coffin chamber for storage.

Minutes passed and it felt like hours before eventually Asgore came in, a grim expression upon his face. Sans didn’t even look up from the place the human had fallen. The red blood glistened on the floor as Asgore moved by it, his body blocking the lighting temporarily before he addressed his young student. Sans’s entire body felt numb, it shook with the force of his crying.

 

“My child,” The voice was soft, but still caused Sans to flinch painfully. Asgore knelt beside him and softly placed his paw on Sans’s shoulder. “You did such a good job.” He emphasized the words by folding the boys into his arms, while Sans’s faced flashed through his emotions. His expression filled with surprise and confusion before it twisted to an even more upset one. Fresh tears fell from his eye sockets, his face pressed into the King’s broad chest. Asgore hugged him tighter, the embrace was comforting and warm, as if trying to protect Sans from the horrors of his own actions. Sans shook his head, burying his face in the fur to cancel out the sound of his own sobs. He gasped and ached and felt so overwhelmed in that moment that he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t know anything else he could do.

Asgore hushed him quietly, soothingly, like a parent comforting an injured child, as he gathered Sans into his arms to pick him up. The comforting embrace doubled as he rubbed Sans’s back in soothing circles. He stood and began making his way down the hall with Sans in his arms. Sans’s blue striped hoodie was stained red along with the floor of the judgement hall. Woshuas filed past them as they walked down the corridors to New Home. The sobs seemed to die down a bit, and Sans felt the urge to curl even further into the king’s arms. Tears still fell from his eyes, but he was sniffling now as they walked into the warm and comforting home.

Sans couldn’t see where they were going, but he felt himself being sat down on a familiar chair. He only panicked for a moment before realizing he was in Asgore’s home, the man bustled about, lighting up the fireplace and collecting articles of clothing before addressing the much calmer Sans. The king’s expression softened as his gaze settled on the shivering boy.

“Come on, I’ll lead you to the shower.” Asgore kept his voice quiet, and Sans only hesitated for a moment before sliding off of the chair to follow him to the bathroom. It was a simple room, the shower already heated up and running. “I will leave you a change of clothes here.” Asgore left the room, moving to the kitchen to make them some food while thinking over what had happened, deciding to call Gaster after the pie made it into the oven.

Sans slowly and shakily got undressed before stepping into the shower. He set the hoodie into the white sink gingerly, but the red stains still soaked through, contrasting the vibrant white intensely. Avoiding the mirror, he stepped into the steaming shower and sighed. The heat felt nice against his bones, the water turned red as if fell over his knees, the water running the blood down the drain.

Asgore hummed idly, adding the finishing touches to the pie before setting it on a rack in the oven. He pulled out his cell phone, hesitating before punching in the number. It rang for several moments before Gaster picked up, the man was always reluctant to talk on the phone.

“Hello?” Asgore spoke into the speaker, waiting patiently.

“Hello, Asgore. How can I help you?” Gaster heard the king sigh on the other side of the line.

 

“Well, you might want to come pick up your boy. The human has been taken care of.” Asgore’s voice was grim. He couldn’t see Gaster, but if he was able he would see the curious glint in his eye.

“If the human has been taken care of, then Sans is in no danger, right? Why do I need to pick him up?” He had already guessed the answer, but wanted it confirmed. Asgore’s voice lowered to barely above a whisper,

“Sans was involved in taking the human’s soul. He’s... Not faring well.” Asgore could feel his own guilt creep up his spine. Maybe it was best to give this all up, it only seemed to cause anguish and hurt. First Toriel left, and now that poor kid had to deal with the fact that he killed someone for the rest of his life.

“Alright, as soon as I find someone to take care of Pap I’ll be by.” Gaster began walking out the door, thinking through who might be willing to do that. People had already gathered outside in Snowdin, celebrating the human’s fall.

“Oh, and Gaster.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell his brother, let Sans say something if he decides to.” The proposition seemed obvious, it was likely that Papyrus would find out anyway. If word had already made it out to Snowdin it wouldn’t be long until word of the hero made it to them as well.

“Of course, see you soon.”

“Goodbye.” Asgore hung up and let out a sigh, rubbing the bridge of of his nose. He walked to the bathroom after a moment.

“Sans? Are you okay?” Asgore called through the door after knocking. A shaky reply was called back through the door,

“yeah.” Sans was just standing in the water, less for cleanliness at this point and more for comfort.

“Do you mind me picking up your dirty clothes? I will only be a moment.” He opened the door a crack, humidity seeping through to the hall.

“ok.” Sans shuffled in the shower a bit, making sure the curtain was closed. Asgore entered and located the clothes in the sink before grabbing them,

“I will wash these for you and get them back when I can, in the meantime you can wear some, uhm, ... leftover clothes I had in your size.” Sans nodded on the other side of the curtain, and Asgore turned and left.

As soon as the door clasped behind him, Sans turned the water off, grabbed a fluffy towel laid out for him, and evaluated the clothes Asgore had chosen. They looked a bit too big, the stripes indicated the child size. The shirt would probably hang just above his knees and the pants would probably drag, but it was better than nothing. He shuffled into them as quickly as he could, and took a deep breath, wiping his face over with the towel again. The water had wiped away all signs of his tear tracked face, but he still avoided the mirror on his way out. He let himself shamble into the living and plop down into the cush chair by the fireplace. Everything in the house was too big, but it was comforting for the chair to practically swallow him. Asgore walked back in, and Sans didn’t stop staring at the fire.

“Are you injured?” He asked gently, his magic probing at Sans’s soul. The boy didn’t try to block the evaluation of his magic, to tired to attempt it. However, he could practically feel Asgore’s realization that he had gone up in LV.

“i’m not. how’s gerson?” Still refusing to make eye contact, Sans didn’t speak with anger or any emotion at all really.

“Better than he could be right now. You saved him.” Asgore meant it to be comforting, but Sans turned away. It was true he had, but he could have done that without murdering some poor kid too. Asgore put a hand on top of Sans’s skull, “The human would have died, whether or not you were the one to do it.” Asgore paused, “I know it isn’t what you want to hear, but your dad will be proud of you. I’m proud of you.” The tears that fell were much quieter, only a subtle sniffle of it indicated he was crying at all. Asgore walked back into the kitchen after patting Sans’s head lightly, going to get the pie from the oven.

Sans continued to watch the fire flicker and pulled his knees up to his chest as he calmed down. Asgore was right, but he didn't want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about the way his soul thrummed stronger in his chest, or how he could feel more magic flowing through him. He didn’t want to consider that he would be seen as a hero, if only for a bit, for his bravery. His eyes fell shut, all he wanted to do was sleep.

When Asgore walked back into the living room he was holding a cinnamon pie, he never could perfect the butterscotch like Tori had been able to, but the cinnamon one worked fine. When he saw Sans had drifted off, he let out an amused huff of air. The boy deserved a nap, he decided, and began cutting a slice or two to eat in the meantime.

_________________________________

 

Having recruited some of the dog sentries’ teens to look after Papyrus(the young couple Dogamy and Dogaressa were great babysitters, Gaster had no doubt they’d be good parents one day too should they choose to), Gaster made his way through the elevators in deep thought. They would have to celebrate this, his chest swelled with pride at the thought of his son taking out a human. If it were up to him, children would be trained to deal with human threats instead of cowering in their homes from them. 

But, it wasn’t up to him, and according to Asgore, Sans wasn’t doing well. Hopefully that didn’t mean physically. Worry panged through him, and he picked up his pace. Monsters of all types were rushing to the same destination as him, though the royal guard was bound to be stopping them at a point. Eventually the crowd came to a halt in front of the elevator to the New Home. Gaster pushed his way to the front, not a difficult feat considering his height. Two royal guard stood in front of the door,

“Uhm, hello sir, we’re gonna have to ask you to step back from the elevator. The king is like, busy.” The guard spoke in a bored tone, and Gaster stopped to pull out his keycard.

{I’m the royal scientist, and my son is up there. Surely he has provided clearance for me?} Suddenly Gaster felt concerned that the king may not have bothered to mention it to his men. The guard regarded (Heh, reguarded- Sans would have liked that one) him with suspicion, but after taking a good look at his card ultimately shrugged,

“He didn’t, but go on ahead. Your badge is legit.” The guard stepped aside and Gaster let out a sigh of relief. Calling the king in a crowd this big would be a mess, no doubt the man was busy with everything as it was. Gaster made his way into the elevator and rushed through the halls to New Home. His hand fell against the door lightly, rapping just enough to make noise.

Asgore stood from his seat at the table, Sans was snoring peacefully in the king sized chair. It had been about an hour and a half, and Sans seemed to be in the thick of the nap, finally peaceful. At some point Asgore had gotten him a blanket, so the small boy was swimming in fabric and fluffy chair. With a bit of amusement he noted that Sans barely looked eight, better yet 12. Upon hearing the knocking, Asgore made his way to the door and opened it. He smiled at seeing his old friend and opened the door wider,

“Come on in, Gaster. Sans is taking a nap in the living room, we can talk in the kitchen.” Asgore stepped aside for Gaster to step in. The latter did so with a chuckle,

{Sounds like him.} He was familiar with the house, and moved into the living room with Asgore behind him.

“We can chat in the kitchen.” Asgore whispered, motioning to the more secluded kitchen. Gaster went to follow him, but not before taking a long moment to evaluate his son. No physical harm seemed to be done, maybe he was a little low on magic signified by a slightly dimmer glow to his soul than usual but he looked fine. He went to follow gently clinking his mouth to the top of Sans’s head in a skeleton kiss. Walking in, he leaned against the door frame. Asgore was already leaning on the counter.

{How is he? He didn’t seem injured.} Gaster signed with a single hand, arms crossed.

“I’m not sure. We didn’t really talk, he took a shower and changed then fell asleep before I could feed him.” Asgore sighed, “But, he was very upset. The human was a kid this time around...” Gaster scoffed lightly, he was a big advocate for the continuation of the war after once they break the barrier and had little sympathy for humans.

{He’ll move past it once he understands the good he’s done. Sans is a strong kid.} Gaster just brushed it off, he had never been one to address emotions he deemed unnecessary. Asgore frowned, concerned.

“I don’t know about that, Gaster. Give him some time. He’s got as much time off as he needs from training, I request you offer him the same.” The king’s tone was a bit more authoritative than a request, but Gaster didn’t mind. He could offer Sans whatever, but he knew the boy would be antsy to actually do nothing all day.

{Aren’t you excited about this? We’re one foolish human away from going free.} Gaster cut himself off before mentioning the revenge side of things. He might have pushed it a bit with the accusatory tone as it was.

“Of course I’m excited, and I’m very proud of Sans as my student.” Asgore sighed, rubbing his temples. “I’m just worried about him. You weren’t there to see him, he was so upset. In our year together I’ve never seen him cry, not once, and he was just sobbing his heart out.  It’s a lot to take it, and he’s only 12...” Asgore trailed off and Gaster just nodded, that was Asriel’s age when he chose the peaceful path with humans. No wonder this all was so conflicting for the man.

{He’ll be fine, I’m telling you, give him a week and he’ll be right back at.} The confidence on Gaster’s face was absolute. Asgore frowned and turned to prepare a pot of tea on the stove.

“Tea?” Asgore held up a cup, turning to see the signed response.

{Of course, three sugar cubes please.}

_________________________________

 

Ironically, the very hall that would haunt Sans’s nightmares long into the future was the setting for his first chronic night terror. While Asgore and Gaster were distracted in the kitchen, the boy writhed in his sleep, the once comforting blankets far too constricting.

 

_ The hall was bathed in its usual warm orange. The color was as soothing as Sans was used to, he practically passed through there daily. This time, though, it was not him and Asgore, not even Gerson was there. Sans stood alone in the judgement hall, facing himself. He had time to really inspect this angle of himself, he was terrified, fear causing his signature grin to droop. This reflection raised its hand, replaying the actions against the human in slo mo. It didn’t take long for Sans to realize that  _ he  _ was the target, but it was too late to move and he was too fascinated in the horror on his own face. He registered pain, crippling pain that shook his entire soul. _

_ Sans gasped aloud, human blood pooling around him. This reflected version of him was not so willing to make it a painless death and he was left with a fraction of a single hp that was dwindling fast. When the pain passed long enough for him to glance up at himself, his face was twisted into a sadistic grin. The expression was so full of glee that it made him want to throw up on the spot. _

_ “Why the long face?” The reflection finally spoke. It laughed aloud after asking, as if it could read his very thoughts, “You enjoyed it, the LV only made you stronger. You’re a hero, Sans!” Mocking was clear in the reflection’s voice, the sarcasm so plain and unlike himself that he suddenly hated the reflection with a passion. He threw up his own hand, as if to punch, and the reflection dodged effortlessly. _

_ “Heh. You think I’m just gonna stand there and take it?” It stepped forward and grabbed Sans by the neck, cutting off his air supply. The world seemed to fade... _

_________________________________

 

A startling cry of fear ripped through the calm atmosphere of Asgore’s home. Sans tore the blankets off of him, gasping for air that had never really been taken from him. His eye was lit up with magic, ready to go on the offense at a second’s notice before Sans took into account where he was.  _ asgore’s home. you’re ok.  _ He curled into a ball in the chair, magic lighting up the shivering form as both Asgore and Gaster rushed in to see what was wrong.

“Sans? Sans?” Gaster gently pressed a hand over Sans’s tiny shivering one that had curled into a ball and been pressed tightly against his skull. His hand flinched in response before Sans shook his head. “Son, you’re alright. You’re safe.” Asgore looked on with worry as Gaster pulled the shivering boy into a tight hug, blocking out the rest of the world for a little while. It was clear by Gaster’s expression that he wasn’t really expecting this sort of thing, and for a moment Asgore felt a sense of ‘I-told-you-so’ before dismissing it in favor of fetching Sans a slice of pie. Gaster continued to whisper to Sans, and it seemed to be effective in calming him down. Eventually he brought his head up and shakily smiled at the worried faces peering back at him. With a sigh, he spoke barely above a whisper,

“sorry.” Sans relaxed into the chair a bit as Asgore handed him a plate with the cinnamon-y treat on it.

“You’re fine, Sans, take all the time you need.” Giving the boy and Gaster some space, Asgore left the room. Gaster stared as Sans began to eat, only turning to pull up a chair from the dining table to sit by him. Sans glanced at his father, who only continued to peer at him curiously.

“wmmrf?” A few crumbs spewed from his mouth as he spoke, slightly annoyed by the gaze. Gaster chuckled,

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Gaster scolded half heartedly. Sans frowned and swallowed the bite before speaking again.

“what? why are you just staring at me?” A bit of annoyance slipped into his voice.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Gaster spoke gently, but Sans’s expression fell and he looked away. He wanted to yell no in response, but it was inevitable.

“not really, but i guess.” Sans didn’t turn back to look at his father’s expression as he continued to talk, “so i was just heading to the throne room like usual... i stopped by asgore’s house first because sometimes he’s there first, y’know? but, uh, he wasn’t, so i continued to the judgement hall and uhm. gerson was in trouble he was half fallen down already, the human,” Sans paused and let out a breath, shaking his head, “was aiming right at him. so i took out the human.” When Sans turned to look at Gaster, he was shocked to be greeted with an expression full of pride. It was a bit jarring when you expected to find disappointment there. Gaster couldn’t help beaming with pride, he knew Sans had been  _ involved _ , but to deal the fatal blow was a whole other story.

“Sans. You know that human had killed so many monsters- it would have killed Gerson had you not stepped in!” He took Sans by his shoulders, looking him in the eyes. “I’m so proud of you. I know it wasn’t an easy decision for you, but you’ll be better for this.” Gaster pulled him into a hug. Sans couldn’t help feeling a bit warm at the praise, but immediately replaced it with guilt. Why were they so insistent on praising him for this? He had been taught his whole life that peace was the best option, to never fight if there were other options. With a sigh, he pushed those thoughts away and hugged his father back. He could deal with that depressing crap later. Gaster pulled back and gave Sans a long look again.

“what?” The question was more amused than annoyed this time and Sans scooted back in his chair to try to avoid the intense stare. 

{I was just thinking Grillby’s sounded good for dinner.} Gaster grinned at him, the switch back to signing was comfortingly normal. Sans seemed to visibly brighten at the offer of his favorite restaurant.

“really? i’d be up for that...”

{Then let’s get a move on, I’m sure everyone will be eager to see you.} He stood, Sans following soon after.

“can we take a shortcut?”

{Sure, kiddo. Let’s just say goodbye to Asgore before we head out.} The two gave their hearty goodbyes to a very worried(and poorly trying to hide it) Asgore, before shortcutting to just outside of the house.

_________________________________

 

Gaster wobbled a bit, blinking a few times to reorient himself.

{Geez, I’ll never get used to that.} He signed with a chuckle, unlocking the house. Papyrus jumped off the couch upon hearing the door open.

“Dad? Sans?!” The eight year old leaped at Sans with the ferocity of a guardsmen, practically knocking him off his feet with the force of the hug. Sans felt his stomach drop, while Pap usually was excited to see him, it was never this much, and he could hear the tv blaring the news in the background. Gaster flipped it off, but not before Sans heard Gaster’s title mentioned being seen going to the castle. Papyrus pulled away from the hug and grinned brightly at his brother. They were just about the same height, a fact that secretly annoyed Sans to no end.

“Welcome back!” One of the dogs -Dogaressa, if Sans recalled correctly- stood to shake Gaster’s hand.

“Yeah!! Let’s go play, Sans!” With a new energy, Papyrus pulled Sans away from the conversation Gaster began to have. He felt a bit disappointed at the lost eavesdropping opportunity, but let himself be dragged away nonetheless. They sat on the floor of their shared room as Papyrus sorted through his limited collection of action figures. His hands slowed eventually, and he looked at his older brother with worry in his eyes.

“Sans?” He asked nervously, and Sans felt his own expression drop with the tone shift.

“yeah paps?” An abandoned action figure laid to the side, and Sans picked it up to fiddle with.

“Were you... You know... Uh.” The boy stopped to reorient his thoughts. “Were you with Gerson when the human came through?” It was slightly indirect, so Sans avoided it the real question as best he could.

“nah, the human got to the hall before me.” It was technically an answer to the question, but Papyrus pouted a bit in response.

“I meaaaan did you help fight the human?” That prompted a long pause from Sans, and Papyrus almost thought he may not have heard the question.

“uhm, yeah, paps, i did...” Sans continued fiddling with the action figure, hands shaking. Papyrus lit up,

“Wooooowie, Sans!!” This reaction made Sans look up, again surprised by the positivity. “You helped capture a human!! It’s like you’re part of the royal guard!!” Papyrus’s eye lights shined so bright they practically looked like stars. Sans couldn’t help but chuckle, though it was more humorless than he anticipated. He realized then that Papyrus didn’t really realize he had to kill the human to ‘capture’ them. The praise didn’t help the twisted sense of guilt in the pit of his stomach each time the human was mentioned.

“i guess i am, huh.” Sans kept up the act for Papyrus, but the conversation was beginning to wear on him.

“We have to throw a party to celebrate!!” Papyrus grinned brighter, hopping a bit where he sat.

“mm, i think we’re going to go to grillby’s for dinner, so that’s kinda like a party, right bro?” Sans already knew his brother’s displeasure with the greasy restaurant, and Papyrus wrinkled his nose bridge in response.

“I guess!!! It’s always nice to see Grillby!” With that, the serious conversation ended in favor of playing with the action figures. Sans played the brother in distress as the great hero Papyrus saved him from the villain this time around. Pap never was good at making up villains, they always had names that only a villain would have but in the end were redeemed and became friends with him anyway. This time the kidnapper of Sans’s character was named ‘Mean Dude’ (Papyrus called his hero tiny self Cool Dude), but they were interrupted by Gaster before they could finish the scene out.

{You boys ready to go?} He signed, the door opening had brought the attention of both boys to Gaster.

“YES!! We have to tell everyone how cool Sans is!” Papyrus jumped up and began sliding on his shoes. Sans just shrugged and followed suit, making a face at Pap’s proposition when his back was turned. Gaster just chuckled, already prepared. Sans felt his stomach tighten all of a sudden, dread filling him at the thought of a room filled with people wanting to talk about it. Gaster seemed to notice, looking at Sans with curiosity.

“U-uhm,” Sans stuttered a bit, looking up at his father a bit panicked, “maybe we could just get take out?” Papyrus peaked his head out of their closet to watch the conversation.

{I thought you’d want to see Grillby and everyone?}

“i changed my mind.” Sans answered resolutely, sitting back onto his unmade bed. His family exchanged confused looks, but shrugged.

{I guess Pap and I can pick it up, right Pappers?} Gaster grinned at the boy who gave a somewhat reluctant face in response, only glancing to Sans before agreeing.

“Yes, of course! I have to make sure they get Sans’s order right after all!!” Sans’s face washed over with a look of intense relief that didn’t go unnoticed by Gaster. Papyrus marched out of the closet and out the door, giving Gaster and Sans a moment.

{Are you ok?} Gaster gave Sans a concerned look, the boy had seemed to be on the edge of a panic attack at the thought of going to his favorite restaurant moments ago.

“... honestly? no.” Sans let out a huff. How was he expected to be ok when mere hours ago he had been holding a lifeless corpse? Right, because it had been a human corpse. Gaster’s eyebrows knit,

{We can talk more when we get back, ok?}

“ok.”

_________________________________

 

They didn’t talk when Gaster and Pap got back with food. In fact, besides talking to Papyrus when he got home from school, Sans didn’t do much of anything but sleep or eat anymore. It had Gaster tearing out his metaphorical hair, he had never realized just how helpful the twelve year old had been to his work over the past year or so.

Nightmares had been the bane of his existence over the past week. The reflection Sans always found a new way to kill him as the human, even drowning. (How do you drown in that hallway without others in it doing the same? Sans would never know, the other him never repeated the same method of murder.) That night it had been a new one, the Sans had stolen Gerson’s axe and chopped off his head. Instead of dying immediately, though, he was forced to watch as his other form chopped him up into little pieces. It was the most gore filled of all the nightmares he had. Sans laid on his bed, sheets kicked to the end of it, staring blankly at the ceiling. He had woken up an hour or so ago, and just was unable to let himself relax enough to sleep. It didn’t matter if he fell back asleep anyway, he hadn’t had a peaceful night since he killed the human. Sans could hear Papyrus snoring peacefully on the other side of the room, the sound oddly soothing. After the first two nights he’d learned how to wake up without screaming- it had nearly frightened his brother to tears that first night, and after all, that would not do.

It was Thursday, a bit more than a week after the event, and he hadn’t left the house. The news had grabbed onto the story pretty quickly, and though it was already old news, everyone knew that he had been involved in the fight somehow(he hoped and prayed to whatever there was that no one suspected he dealt the last blow). It was only midnight, Sans realized with slight annoyance. Gaster had gone to bed especially early that night since he hadn’t slept in a few days, concentrated on the project as usual. He’d been offered to help the man, but Sans couldn’t bring himself to help.

Silently, he slipped out of bed and pulled on a hoodie. After his striped one had been ruined, (no matter how they washed it, the hoodie had stains that made Sans hyperventilate to look at) they had gone out and gotten him a solid blue one. It was fitting, he wasn’t really a kid anymore anyway. He tied his shoes and exited the room, careful to shut the door behind him. Nothing was really on his mind, especially not where he was going, but he just had an overwhelming need to leave. His gold jingled in his pocket, he’d saved up a lot from his allowances. (They were more like paychecks since he technically did the work of an actual assistant)

It was easy to sneak out with his father practically passed out in his room, not that Sans was really trying to sneak. If he really wanted, he could have shortcutted wherever, but it was really the walk he was after. He pressed a hand against the door as he turned the knob, the creak barely audible over the wind. When he stepped out the bitter cold cut through him, his hoodie was heavier than the old one but it still wasn’t enough to bare the wind of snowdin at night. The entire town was shut down, the usual fake light that indicated day turned down for the false night. All the houses were dark, the only lights in the town emanated from Grillby’s and the inn, both of which stayed open 24/7.

Not even thinking, he walked into Grillby’s, his dark circles showed clearly under his eyes and exhaustion plain upon his face. The light of the bar, though dim, didn’t help the exhausted expression. It was abandoned except for the lonely bartender, who looked up with as much surprise as an elemental could express. Sans didn’t really even acknowledge him before sitting in his favorite seat at the bar. Neither moved for a long moment, letting a simple and quiet peace settle between them first before Grillby mused aloud,

“... I should inform your father.” It came out barely above a murmur, Grillby seemingly only talking to himself. Quips about Sans being a hero had popped into his head, but he settled on that. Sans let out a bark of laughter that surprised them both.

“good luck waking him up.” Sans let his head rest in his arms on the bartop, Grillby busied himself with Sans’s usual. The silence between them was comfortable, no pressure, no expectancy to talk, just silence. When Grillby set the burger and fries in front of him, it was Sans’s turn to look up with surprise. A bottle of ketchup was set in front of him as well. He ate in relative silence, only the wind howling outside the bar and Grillby’s flame crackling made any noise. Half way through the meal, Grillby took a seat on the other side of the bar from Sans, eating his own dinner.

“So,” He spoke, amusement clear in his voice. It wasn’t often teens snuck out to his bar, but when it did it rarely surprised Grillby. Usually it was a group of them, all laughing and shooting nervous but excited looks over their shoulders and expecting Grillby to give them alcohol just because it was late. It never happened like this, especially not with Sans.

“so.” Sans shot back, raising an eyebrow at the bartender.

“I guess we should start with ‘Why aren’t you asleep?’” Grillby asked, cocking an eyebrow back at the boy. Such sass for such a tiny 12 year old. Sans’s typical grin dropped, and he began picking at the ketchup covered fries in front of him again. Grillby was fine waiting, he had all night. A few minutes passed of them eating in silence, Sans only popped three fries into his mouth during that time, seemingly in deep thought.

“nightmares.” He spoke quietly, as if not caring if Grillby heard him or not. The man just nodded, it definitely had been a trend among the night dwellers in his bar. This, however, was by far his youngest customer so troubled by them. It connected a few dots, though. The deep circles under Sans’s eyes, delayed response time. Grillby leaned back in his seat, thinking this through as Sans squirted the ketchup bottle straight into his mouth.

“I see. May I ask what about?” Grillby watched Sans as he carefully sat the ketchup bottle back down and swallowed. The boy sighed, expression shifting a few times as he thought the request over, before finally shaking his head in a solid ‘no’. They sat there for another long silence, eventually Grillby stood back up after finishing his own meal. Sans let his head droop back into his arms after a long hour of watching Grillby busy about in tidying the place up.

When Grillby finished cleaning the entire bar the clock on the wall ticked past 4 am. He glanced over to the bar to find Sans dozing peacefully at the stool. For a long time he considered letting the boy’s family wake up unable to find him, forcing Sans to address the issues at hand, but he looked so peaceful. He clearly had needed the sleep, he clearly had needed to get out of the house. So, Grillby decided with a sigh, to tap Sans awake gently at 5 am. The boy didn’t jerk, he just groggily sat up with confusion clear on his face. Realization seemed to dawn on him, and he looked at the fire elemental with interest.

“... thanks.” Sans stood and walked out the front door before Grillby realized he had forgotten to pay. He went to rush after him, only for the boy to be nowhere to be found.  _ Better start a tab. _ Grillby thought with a slightly frustrated sigh, the breakfast crowd would be in soon.

_________________________________

Sans didn’t bother going back to bed once he got home. Slipping his shoes off, he sat on the couch and curled into a ball before flipping on the tv. A few shows later, Papyrus came rushing down the stairs.

“Sans?” A bit of relief washed over Papyrus’s expression as he spied his brother in front of the tv.

“hey bro, g’morning.” He grinned lazily over to Papyrus, the boy was already headed to the kitchen to start the day.

“You scared me! I didn’t expect you to be up so early.” Sans could hear the pout in Pap’s voice, followed by the sound of the microwave starting.

“sorry, bro. i didn’t mean to scare you.” He couldn’t help grinning a bit when Papyrus walked back into the room with two plates of breakfast, “aw, you shouldn’t have!” They began to eat, Papyrus more than happy to be with his brother’s company again.

“Are you going back to work today, brother?” Papyrus asked, excitement in his voice. Sans smiled shakily,

“maybe. i was thinking about visiting asgore later.” Sans scooped the last bite into his mouth and stood, holding a hand out for Pap’s plate when he finished. “go grab a shower, i’ll walk you to school.” Papyrus positively lit up at the prospect, it would be like normal again! With a new spring in his step, he rushed up the stairs, causing Sans to chuckle before heading in to wash off the dishes.

At 7 am they departed for school, Sans left a note in case Gaster woke up before he got back that he would be at Asgore’s and to call if he needed him. It wasn’t likely that the man would wake up before then. The walk was pleasantly normal, they talked all about school, mainly Pap’s friends. The boy was passionately engulfed in his story about playing at recess with action figures the school provided and how they always had to share because some kids would take their favorites. After waving the boy off to school, Sans took a shortcut to just outside Asgore’s house. There was no telling if he would actually be awake yet, if not Sans would usually grab a treat by Muffet’s, but his knock went answered today. Asgore stared down at Sans in surprise for a moment before scooping the boy into his arms energetically.

“Oh Sans! It is so good to see you again!” It had only been a week, but when you see a guy at least every other day for a year you begin to miss them.

“hey asgore.” Sans hugged back as best he could in the other’s arms, grinning into the fur.

“Come in! Come in! Let’s have some tea!” Asgore walked back into the house with the eagerness of Papyrus, a pot of tea already steaming on a hot pad in the center of the table. Sans let out a content sigh and sat across from Asgore, letting the man pour him a cup of tea.

“Are you goin to stay for a lesson or is this just a visit? Because I’d like to talk to you about that...” Asgore carefully poured the two cups without spilling and put sugar into each. He gave Sans his with a spoon so the boy could stir it himself, and Asgore began stirring his own.

“oh, uh, either way is fine i guess. dad is actually sleeping for once, so we have some time.” Sans chuckled, taking a sip of the almost scalding tea. Good thing skeletons didn’t have (natural) tongues.

“Well, about the lessons.” Asgore took a big gulp of his own, having blown on it for a few moments. “I’ve taught you just about all I can, however, I’d still like to help you refine your magical ability and spar.” Genuine happiness seemed to come through his expression with his offer, “So, if you want, you will also be take Gerson’s place in the judgement hall.”

“no thanks.” Sans spoke with such certainty, it stopped Asgore in his tracks. The boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the somewhat hurt look Asgore gave him. “i mean, i have no interest in attacking anyone. i’m no royal guardsman.” 

“But you could be. You could be a very powerful one, Sans.”

“b u t  i m  n o t.” Sans’s face grew grim. He knew he could kill. He didn’t  _ want _ to. Asgore sighed.

“Fine, think of it like a sentry position. You just kinda turn away monsters who mean me harm or let me know if they’re coming in anyway. Your teleportation is good for that.” Sans still looked uncomfortable at the idea of it, but with no sign of another human any time soon, he agreed on the pretenses that there would be no more actual violence. He let out a sigh,

“when do i have to start?” Asgore raised an eyebrow at the tone,

“You will get paid for this, you know.”

“that’s really nice, thanks. when do i have to start?” There was no correction in tone, which annoyed Asgore a bit, but the man just sighed.

“You can start in a week, but the sooner the better. Gerson is out of service and Jerrys tend to wander in...” Asgore made a face and Sans couldn’t help but chuckle. The two chatted for a while longer, getting back on a better foot. They were friends, after all, and at the end of the day they enjoyed to just chat. It was nearly lunch by the time Sans stood to leave, and Asgore gave him another hug before he shortcutted home.

Sans was shocked to find Gaster was awake when he walked in, the man was sat at the table drinking straight from the pot of coffee, not a rare sight after the man awoke from the sleep he took every three days or so. Gaster was also surprised, though he was surprised to see Sans at all, better yet coming in from outside.

{Finally decide to stop moping?} He grumped out in sign and Sans felt a flare of anger. Not responding in spite, he headed straight for the couch to watch tv. Gaster followed him though, sitting next to him on the couch. {Don’t be like that, I need you for work. Nothing is getting done without you, Sans.} Sans let out a frustrated huff.

“how did you get by before i helped you?” He took his anger out on the remote, pressing the channel change buttons with hatred.(there were only two channels on a good day)

{I have no idea. All of the interns are idiots, and they’re like 6 years older than you.} Gaster let his face crinkle in disgust before taking another long drink of his coffee, it was Sans’s cue to laugh, but he was silent.

“i’ll come back in tomorrow.”

{Thank god.}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> almost every scene in this i rewrote at least twice jfc.
> 
> Ahhh, so due to length there will be a short 2.5 chapter(probably coming out sometime in the next week. yay spring break.) focusing in on Gaster and his project about a year from the time period of this story. It will probs be around 2,000+ words? Not a full chapter like this one lmao.  
> in case you didn't read the top A/N:
> 
> Yooo do you like editing? Read through my writing and pick out all my dumb errors? Then, hey! I’m actually thinking about asking for beta readers? If anyone is interested let me know! That way we could get some more polished chapters out there, especially with the lengths that these ones will be.


	3. 2.5 Part one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Science!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so remember when i said this chapter would be shorter?  
> it was so long i had to cut it in half. Part two is twice as long as this part but i wanted to give all y'all a cliffhanger >:)
> 
> fic chapters have been updated. imma try to do shorter chapters and get them out quicker? but it may not be a finalized thing at this point because while i know the end to this/how its going i have no clue how long its gonna take to get there
> 
> quick shout out to my beta-reader belzarvie (<3) she's helped me so much with this and the next chapter and just is genuinely fun to talk to so check out her blog if ur on tumblr! belzarvie.tumblr.com
> 
> and im at undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com per usual!
> 
> whoo boy, enjoy!

Over a Year Since the Orange Soul’s Death

 

{Sans. Go over this with me again.} Gaster tossed his glasses onto the desk haphazardly, not caring for the delicate lenses’ welfare. Sans looked up, partially in annoyance. He was working on the little practical science they could do while Gaster worked out the theories, even though those theories were entirely based on Sans’s magic. An assistant is an assistant, after all.

“dad, i’m working.” Sans huffed out, going back to scrawling on his equations. Gaster let out a whine quite unbefitting of a grown man.

{Son,  _ I’m _ working.}

“there’s really not much else about shortcutting-”

{Teleportation magic.} Gaster corrected, earning a subtle glare from Sans.

“my magic, my name.” Sans held the stare, and Gaster let out another annoyed noise.

{We are not fighting over this again. Teleporting is crucial to this experiment and ‘short cuts’ is not a clear enough name for it in documentation.} Gaster signed out angrily, but Sans looked back to his equations to effectively ignoring him half way through. This didn’t go unnoticed by Gaster, who stood and snatched the papers from his assistant’s desk. {C’mon, we’re going.} Before leaving Gaster tossed the papers onto his desk without even glancing at them and snatched a manilla folder from the clutter. Sans let out an angry scoff, only standing to follow after the other had left the room.

“where we headin’, g?” The nickname had been picked up by other assistants in the lab, Gaster had expressed his discomfort with Sans referring to him as ‘Dad’ around other scientists after Sans became his official assistant, which Sans only exploited on occasion and in extremes. (The science team’s longtime favorite was the day the two had first argued over naming shortcuts and both were quite sour over it. In an attempt to ignore his son, Gaster had scheduled his day full of arduous and time consuming meetings, and Sans, aware his father was intentionally avoiding him, opened the door and shouted “DADDY!” in front of everyone just to spite the man.) Sans didn’t bother hiding the irritated tone in his voice and jogged slightly to catch up with the his father’s long legs.

{The training hall, obviously. I need a better understanding of telep-} Sans literally used his magic to stop Gaster’s signs in their tracks,

“shortcuts.” Sans corrected, a smug lilt in his voice.

{Sans. I raised you better than that, that was so rude.} Gaster lightly bopped Sans on the head with a folder. {As I was saying, I need a better understanding of... “shortcuts”} He signed the last bit with actual air quotes, but Sans only nodded.

“fair enough. are you going to short cut with me this time and stop being a babybones?” Sans grinned up at Gaster, a smugness to his expression There had been a long streak of Gaster being far too unhappy with the ‘instability’ of Sans’s shortcuts which mostly resulted in long walks to work and a severely inhibited ability to study the magic. Gaster spluttered, shooting Sans a glare. He tapped in the keycode for the training hall, and the door shot open.

{You’re being awfully rude to your poor father today. What have I done to warrant this... this abuse?!} He was slightly joking, but still annoyed by the attitude. {Asgore was right, teenagers are a whole new challenge.} Gaster let out a pitiful sigh that made Sans snort. They walked into the room, shoes clicking against the floor. Sans hung his lab coat up on the wall and Gaster prepared for the experiment. Turning his back to Sans, he busied himself with locating a voice logging device,  _ Ah! There it is. _ Gaster snatched the small rectangle from a drawer before turning back to face the slightly more prepared Sans. The tape recorder whirred in his hand before he began speaking aloud. The voice that fell from Gaster’s mouth was a bit jarring for Sans to hear, it was so clinical as opposed to the warmth that it usually directed his way.

“W.D Gaster, initiating experiment 23 study 5. The experiment into the flow of time and its relation to space within the underground has been at a standstill, only revived due to the discovery of teleportation magic. Subject 1, if you would, run us by the limitations of your magical skill.” Sans made the stupidest face he could manage and imitated Gaster while he spoke, but kept his voice just as clinical and level when he spoke back.

“subject 1 speaking, limitations include lack of visual while in limbo between initial jump and landing, perfect vertical distance has not been perfected and slight falls may occur upon arrival, previous experiments have indicated magical barriers are impassable -both monster and human magic-, and more than two passengers outside of the subject can cause significant time lapses between jump and landing.” Gaster nodded to him before speaking again, turning to pace.

“This experiment is to test the capabilities of passengers within this ‘limbo’ described by Subject 1. In order to test it we will be burdening the subject with more weight to lengthen time in between and I will be accompanying the subject myself.” Sans stared at Gaster in surprise,  _ oops, guess the teasing really got to him _ , he mused to himself. There was a slightly exaggerated sigh on Gaster’s end. “The recording device will not be traveling with us on this expedition, so unfortunately, second by second updates will not be possible for this experiment.” He clicked off the recorder for a moment before adding, “If you are an intern listening to this and Gaster and Sans have been missing for days please give this device to the new royal scientist.” Sans gave his father a pointed eye roll, Gaster pretended not to notice as he ended that recording as well.

“so, burdening the subject, hmm?” Sans grinned as Gaster began shoving weights into a backpack that’s straps clung tightly to one’s back.

{Yes, Sans, it’s important that I am given enough time to actually see within the time allotted-}

“i suppose there’s a  _ slim _ chance that we could go without them then?” Sans emphasized the pun by motioning his hands inward, when Gaster didn’t respond he continued. “heh, i mean, if looks could  _ kilo _ i’d be dead after today.” Gaster rested on one knee and begun fastening the weighted bag to Sans’s back, and Sans booped him on the bridge of his nose to bring out one of the many nasty glares Gaster was capable of. “that’s what i’m talking about, g! aw don’t be grumpy, though, i think i’m finally seeing the error in my weights.” Sans couldn’t help but snicker at that one, but it darkened Gaster’s expression. “aw, c’mon that was a good one!”

{No it wasn’t.} Gaster let the bag fall against his back, and Sans stumbled just slightly against the weight of the backpack.

“whoo, that’s sure a lot isn’t it?” Sans was a bit startled by the amount, they had done similar experiments before, though this specific one had always been avoided due to Gaster’s own fears. As if taking that as a literal question, Gaster’s hands shot up.

{It’s supposed to emulate at least one other passenger, of course it’s going to weigh a lot bonehead.} He rapped lightly on Sans’s skull with his knuckles, and Sans’s grin widened almost immediately. Gaster rolled his eyes at his eagerness, {Pun intended. You ready?}

“as i’ll ever be, g.” Sans held out his hand, and Gaster took it in a death grip. It was about the size of a toddler’s hand, not a lot to hold onto when entering an unknown space-time continuum thing. With an amused grin, Sans tightened his grip back. “it’ll be just like crossing the street in the capital!” Gaster’s chuckle was cut off by Sans’s magic lighting up in preparation for the ‘jump’. The two began a pretty leisurely stroll across the training hall, and Gaster mentally prepared himself as the rift between their reality and the ‘limbo’ seemed to tear. Huh, that was weird. He had never been able to observe the portal itself as it didn’t seem to appear for anyone not taking part in the jump.

They entered the portal, and Sans was already breathing hard, seemingly strained by the effort of it. The boy’s eyes were also clamped shut, he was no doubt concentrating on his internal use of magic rather than the space around them. Gaster had asked if he was physically able to open his eyes before in previous trials, but that had only resulted in dangerous landings and a very dizzy Sans. It was difficult to understand this realm, and though he felt the two of them moving through it, there was very little indicating this movement. Similarly to what Gaster assumed a black hole would be like, it was devoid of light. There was an occasional discomfort of movement in the air around him, raising the question of potential permanent dwellers in this... void. Yes, that was a good term for it. Sans was beginning to sweat, brow knit tightly in concentration. Gaster nearly panicked for a moment that he had overburdened him, but right before them another portal opened- again as if tearing through time and space- and they exited the void.

With a harsh gasp for air, Sans collapsed onto the tile of the training hall and eagerly tore the weighted backpack off of him. He let out a groan, Gaster was already excitedly reaching for his abandoned recorder. He overwrote the ‘just in case’ message, eagerly speaking into the microphone end.

“The limbo space, I am officially naming it the void, is devoid of light, though it is not entirely absent of sound. There were seemingly many other travelers there, though none paid us any attention and all were obscured due to lack of light there definitely was movement. This leads to the potential of those who live exclusively within this void, though its purpose outside of travel alludes me. I must consider the possibilities of this void further, perhaps even ask around to see if there are others besides subject 1 who hold the skill of teleportation.” Sans muttered ‘shortcuts’ to himself, his breathing still smoothing out as he stood back up. It wasn’t that long of a jump, they had only shortcutted a few feet, but it wasn’t the distance that kept them so long.

“Subject 1, how are you holding up?” Gaster shot him a slightly concerned look, and Sans grinned in response. He took the recorder Gaster carefully held out to him,

“subject 1 speaking, still worn out, the jump felt as difficult as going from one end of the underground to the other. the feeling of movement described by dr. gaster was not experienced by me, and i did not attempt to view- what did ya’ call it, g?”

“The void.”

“the void. however, i have run into objects in the void before.” Gaster’s eyebrows shot up at this, and Sans gave him an apologetic smile before continuing. “the... person i ran into apologized, and i returned the sentiment before we went on our ways. it did shake my own concentration, which caused that particular trip to last longer.” Sans ended it on that note, and Gaster snatched the recorder back. He turned it off and began pacing.

“That... is vital information, Sans.” Gaster’s voice wasn’t upset at all, it was more introspective than anything, and by the man’s expression he was already picking apart this new information. Gaster ran a hand over his mouth and took a seat in one of the lab chairs, long legs sticking out from it a bit uncomfortably.  “In fact, this opens up a whole new realm of experiments we can perform, Sans.” The excitement in Gaster’s voice was not reflected in Sans’s.

“dad, i can’t focus on experiments if we want  _ any _ of the practical science done. i know you don’t like it but we need another assistant.” Sans watched as Gaster’s face wrinkled up in utter disgust.

{Saaans, you haven’t had to work with them, they’re god awful!}

“what if i find a new intern since you hate the ones we have. you won’t have to worry about it, they’ll be more like my assistant anyway. basic calculations can be done by like, a monkey.”

{Ugh, alright, but if they’re awfully you’re firing them.} Gaster let a grin slip onto his face at the thought of others’ incompetence and Sans chuckled in relief.

“just because they aren’t helpful to you doesn’t mean they aren’t helpful to the other scientists.” Sans poked Gaster with a pencil and began pulling on his lab coat to head back to their shared office.

_________________________________

“hey sorry i’m late, heh.” Sans climbed up onto the desk chair, sitting across from the monster who didn’t look much older than himself. Three weeks after promising to find a worthy intern, Sans was pretty much at a loss. Everyone in the university that wanted to be a scientist was begging for such a direct position to work with Gaster, and yet they ended up with over confident idiots that knew little about actual calculations. Sans regarded the lizard with a bit of curiosity, yellow was a nice color, certainly one that was lacking around the lab. The poor girl seemed nervous and was pulling at the sleeves of her cardigan. “alright! it’s nice to meet you miss... uh...” He checked the paperwork before him, “miss alphys. i’m sans, sans the skeleton.” He grinned broadly at her, she smiled faintly back.

“Ahah... yeah! It’s n-nice to meet you.” She glanced up at his warm expression, comforted by the cheery atmosphere.

“so! do you have any questions for the position before we begin?” Sans was doing his best to imitate what Gaster had trained him on for this sort of thing, but he was only 14. He hadn’t even interviewed for job before.

“Y-Yes, actually! I was curious if you- uhm, if you had more information on what I would actually be... uh, doing, y’know?” Sans nodded, taking into account the meek attitude of the potential intern.

“it’s mainly calculations, pluggin’ and chuggin’ numbers,” that got a chuckle out of Alphys and Sans internally marked a checkmark for her good humor, “we’re looking into several things, right now it is primarily time and space, resets, and the effect of humans on the underground. however, the current project has its roots in theoretical physics and a side of mechanics.” Alphys seemed to brighten up,

“Mechanics is my major, b-but I’ve always been interested in theoretical physics, kn-knowing it uh, was the royal scient-tist’s focus afterall.” Sans made a small note of that on her documents, nodding happily. Usually the people that came chose to immediately appeal to the theoretical physics side of things- but that front was mostly covered between Sans and Gaster. Mechanics and engineering was certainly something they could use a helping hand in. Despite the somewhat shy attitude she seemed to have a distinct perspective; that was something Sans could appreciate.

“any other questions?”

“Uhm... just a personal one, i-if that’s alright...”

“sure.”

“How are you and Dr. Gaster r-related? I m-mean... you’re both skeletons a-and, he’s known f-for refusing to accept assistants...” Her voice petered off at the end, nervously. Sans laughed outright,

“i think you’re the first to ask that, actually. he’s my dad.” Sans’s grin widened at her surprised expression. “anyway, enough about me. it says here you’re actually... 16?” Sans whistled, she was about a year into college and she wasn’t even 18. She nodded,

“I was h-homeschooled by my dad... he used to work here I think? Anyway I graduated high school at fifteen.” Sans nodded in interest, making a mental note of a family connection. If Gaster had been willing to work with her father that was a good sign for her. “What about you? I-I mean, how old are you?” Sans was taken a bit by surprise by this question, and it suddenly occurred to him that he could lie to save face, but nah.

“i’m... i’m actually, uh, 14.” He chuckled, scratching at the back of his skull in a bit of embarrassment. Alphys’s expression brightened,

“Really?! W-well I guess it’s not s-surprising that the royal scientist’s son w-would be a genius...” She grinned at him a bit more strongly than before and Sans felt the blue blush creep onto his face.

“aw jeez, thanks dude.” Sans internally slapped himself, and Alphys just laughed at the traditional teenage boy separating himself from a compliment. It already felt... normal between them. Like they could start working together today. “ok, last step is just a basic calculations sheet to see how well you can work through stuff on the job!” He handed the worksheet over to her. The paper was actually a document he was supposed to be calculating out for the experiments, and it most certainly was not ‘basic calculations’.

“D-do you have a pencil?” Alphys asked nervously, the shyness returning full force. Sans nodded and handed her one, “T-thanks.” It only took her a moment to look over the sheet before she began working it out. Sans leaned back in his chair, expecting it to take at least an hour. His most promising candidates so far had taken at least that.

“oh, you’re allowed a calculator, by the way.” He mentioned offhandedly, scooting one toward her. She nodded, relief falling over her face as she began working at it again with new force.

It took 30 minutes. Sure, it wasn’t near Sans’s speed, he rocketed through those sheets in under ten minutes, Gaster could do it in under five, but they were all correct and it was the best time anyone had gotten so far. Sans’s grin inched wider and wider as he read over the calculations.

“nice. we’ll call the number on here to let you know within the week. when can you start?” Sans glanced at her with a reassuring grin. She looked excited,

“A-Anytime! I’ll have to work around my classes, but other than that I’m free.” Alphys stood, holding out her hand for Sans to shake. He did, happily, and walked out the door with her.

“awesome, i’ll get back to you. thanks for coming in! do you need help finding your way out?”

“Nope, I t-think I’ve got it. Thank you for your consideration.” She rushed out, practically running down the hall. Sans already knew she was going to get the job, but it wouldn’t hurt to look it over with Gaster.

_________________________________

 

The weeks and months that followed the interview, the three scientists were deep in the thick of the project. Sans almost exclusively worked with Gaster on tangible experiments, leaving him exhausted 24/7. He really only ever stopped by the office to talk with Alphys and discuss a particularly difficult problem or see what all she had accomplished. They had become fast friends and though he wouldn’t admit it, Gaster had taken a liking to her as well. That day, though, all three scientists stood in the training hall. Sans was... nervous. He hadn’t even exerted any magic and was sweating profusely. This was the experiment they had all kinda dreaded, and Sans was pretty much totally alone for it.

Gaster was doing his best to hide his fear, Alphys the same. They both busied about, making sure Sans had some food on him, the boy wasn’t even dressed in regular lab attire. He had his favorite hoodie and a simple pair of basketball shorts, both of which hung rather loosely on him (Gaster swore he’d grow into them). Gaster pressed play on his recording device,

“W.D. Gaster initiating experiment 276 in study 5. Subject will be spending as long in the void as is physically possibly. Complications may occur, as such, subject has been prepared with a week’s worth of food and comforting clothing. A cell phone will also accompany him, though there is no telling if it will do any good in the void.” A pause as Gaster regarded Sans. “Subject, any thoughts before beginning the experiment?”

“uh, yeah, paps can have all my belongings and the room to himself if i die or like, never come back. g gets none of it.” Sans winked at the annoyed face Gaster shot him, “also alphys should continue on my long line of puns in the lab. may the puns never be forgotten, a moment of silence.” Alphys was holding back her laughter, and they all did actually pause for a second, before Gaster took the recorder back.

“Thank you, Subject 1.” Gaster spoke a bit sharply, but clearly hiding both his own apprehension and amusement. The recorder was turned off and Sans was engulfed by his two science partners in a hug.

“G-good luck, Sans. See you soon.” Alphys pushed her fears aside and put on a bright smile for her friend. Gaster gave his son a sturdy pat on the back.

{Good luck, hopefully you won’t need it.}

And with that, Sans entered the void, letting the darkness swallow him, struggling to keep his mind blank as the void seemed to request a destination.

_________________________________

 

The void was... cold. Sans thought, letting his eyes blink and adjust to the complete darkness. Suddenly, he knew what Gaster meant though about movement. Nothing outright bumped into him, but the void was certainly not a calm force around him. Sitting down, the faux floor calmed and evened out in a 4 feet radius around him.

“hello?” He called out, keeping his voice steady and strong. As if annoyed, the void rippled underneath him, knocking him over. “wow rude.” Sitting back up, the void shifted. Light moved back into his field of vision, bouncing off a figure making its way toward him. He stood, feeling a bit of panic flow through him at the uncertainty of this figure’s intention.

“ _ How strange. _ ” The voice sounded like it had to go through layers of static to reach him, the sound echoing itself and through the empty void around them. “ _ What are you doing here? _ ” The void around them shifted between colors like the barrier and Sans couldn’t help but feel that the static-y voice was familiar.

“i’m running an experiment.” Sans answered honestly, unable to keep his eyes off the figure. Its face was distorted, almost intentionally hiding its identity from him. “who are you?”

“ _ Who am I not? _ ” It outright laughed at him, but there was little humor in the gargled sound. “ _ You should not be here. _ ” The figure grew, towering over Sans in a clear demonstration of intimidation.

“why? i come here all the time to shortcut.”

“ _ Yes, Sanses are known to do that. Quite obnoxious little creatures you are. _ ” A smirk was evident in the thing’s voice, even if its face was unseeable. In the long pause it seemed to be sizing him up. “ _ Do you want to play a game? Clearly you are curious. _ ”

“uhhh, that sounds ominous.”

“ _ Oh, it could be. _ ” Its voice no longer sounded kind, almost twisted in a malevolent sense of glee. Sans frowned in uncertainty.

“will i be able to get back?”

“ _ Perhaps. _ ”

“... let’s do it. i’ve got time.” Sans took a step forward despite every instinct screaming for him to step back. Curiosity killed the cat...

“ _ Oooh, a brave Sans here. I’m so proud. _ ” The voice melted into familiarity again, before the void around them rapidly shifted into sharper colors, showing countless different scenes. He felt magic pulse within him, not fully his own, and be drawn out in order to tear open another portal. The flashing only intensified with the rush of more magic.

“ugh, glad i don’t have a stomach...” He felt absolutely nauseous as his magic almost entirely depleted. The void settled on one portal,

“ _ Goodbye, brave little Sans. Have fun. _ ” Its chuckle echoed as it melted into the background and Sans felt his body lurch forward. The sensation of falling was terrifying, and he hit the ground face first into a snow poff. An involuntary gasp filled his skull with snow, causing an incredibly unpleasant cold to painfully invade his face. He flailed a bit, wildly trying to sit back upright, only to be faced with a house he didn’t recognize. Coughing, he stood, clothes now soaked in snow. That wasn’t all, though, when he looked up the darkness of the cave didn’t greet him, but a shockingly blue gray sky dashed here and there with wisps of clouds. It was surprisingly similar to the void, so open and terrifyingly free feeling. His head spun gazing up at it, automatically trying to assign his best idea of what stars were to this canvas. This... this was the surface. Though it was right in front of him he couldn’t help feeling disbelief, everything was different. The air was softer, less potent with magic, and every direction he looked there was no end to what he saw. Trees, taller than he’d ever seen. Cars sat out in driveways, begging to be torn apart and analyzed. His entire body felt lighter as well, maybe due to the lighter air, or maybe due to the complete stupor this place had put him in. His awe was interrupted by a shout,

“SANS?!” A head shot out from the window of the house, a very confused Papyrus gazing down at him. Even from two stories down he could tell this Papyrus was not the nine year old he had bid a good week to and said goodbye to that morning, in fact, this Papyrus seemed to be an adult. Why were they here on the surface? Had they succeeded in freeing the monsters from underground? Excitement filled him at the notion that he had just shortcutted into the future, a future where he could gaze at the stars every night. A future where his dad didn’t have to work unhealthy hours in a sense of duty. A future where Pap could grow up with plenty of space to run around and play with other kids. From within the house, he heard a distant reply, followed by a much older Sans poking his head out the window. 

“hello.” Sans waved up at them, watching as both skeleton’s expressions rose in shock. Papyrus pushed away from the window first, rushing down through the house to get out to him. Sans wiped any lingering snow off of him, but he was still unavoidably soaked. Papyrus didn’t waste any time throwing open the door and staring down at him in surprised sense of glee. The older and slightly taller Sans stepped out from behind Papyrus,

“well, this is a surprise-”

“YOU’RE SO CUTE!” Papyrus scooped Sans up into his arms, seemingly oblivious to the wet nature of his clothes. Sans enjoyed the embrace, but the rush of motion reminded him of the lack of magic in his system. He nearly blacked out for a moment at the intense dizziness, but Papyrus didn’t seem to notice. 

“you’re so tall.” After gathering his bearings and feeling his magic stabilize a bit, Sans stared at Papyrus’s face in awe. This is what his baby bro would look like all grown up? He felt like he could cry. Sans looked down from his position in Papyrus’s arms, millions of questions running through his head. The Older Sans cleared his throat behind them,

“uh, be careful there bro we don’t know where this guy came from.”

“BUT SANS! IT’S A TINY YOU!” Papyrus sat him back down, this time on the cleared pathway to their house. He swayed a bit, a dizziness overcoming him.  _ wow, i guess timeline hopping takes a lot more magic than i thought... _ Sans passed out, though Older Sans was quick enough to catch him on the way down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you in a week mofos


	4. 2.5 Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Science! Timelines! !!! Grillby?!
> 
> fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok this is actually out of hand now i have 126 pages of both planning and writing for this series? wth?
> 
> Happy Monday!
> 
> OOH warning there are some bonefire undertones here(sorry not sorry).
> 
> The lovely belzarvie is my beta reader, check her out on tumblr! belzarvie.tumblr.com

When Sans woke up, he was pleasantly dry and warm. It took a few moments to reorient himself, the house and couch he rested on incredibly unfamiliar. Golden light streamed in through the big open windows, showing the sunset in a beautiful almost picturesque way. Warmth grew in his chest at the thought that he would be used to such a view one day. A thick blanket had been thrown over him, and he gently pushed it off. His clothes had been replaced, a similar colored hoodie to the one he had brought with him and basketball shorts that rested at his ankles. The pants almost slid off of him when he went to stand up. Both of which were about twice the size of his usual clothes, the hoodie especially had an awkward amount of cloth and nearly fell off his shoulders. When his feet hit the carpet he almost melted. Whoever had changed his clothes had also taken his shoes, and the carpet was more plush than anything he’d ever felt. Why would you even have a bed with a carpet this soft?

This house was bigger and more elaborate than any home Sans had ever seen in the underground. A large tv was sat on an entertainment cabinet in front of the couch, and a whole lot of stairs lead up to a second floor. On the first floor, there were several doors and entryways, but an entryway behind the couch had light emanating and voices coming from it. With light steps, he made his way to the room, surprised to see Grillby at the stove cooking and Older Sans sat at the table chatting with him. Older Sans turned and looked to him with a lazy grin, a light blush dusting his cheeks. Sans stared for a few moments before it occurred to him,

“oh my god. don’t tell me you got with grillby.” His voice made Grillby turn to look at him, the fire elemental quirked a metaphorical eyebrow at him in amusement. Older Sans chuckled a bit at the mix between horror and intrigue on the younger version of himself’s face.

“sure did.” Older Sans sighed dreamily for emphasis, which made Sans’s ‘nose’ crinkle up in something of disgust. Whether it was fake disgust or not, even he didn’t know. “don’t expect it will happen to you though.”

“so this isn’t my future?” Sans glanced outside, a bit of disappointment hitting him. He had barely gotten to see the surface, the idea that such an expansive world available to him was both terrifying and exciting. Older Sans shrugged,

“well, we most likely aren’t a direct link to your timeline, but somethings might be a possibility. especially considering you seem to be more like me than some other timelines i’ve seen.” Older Sans patted the seat next to him, and Sans only hesitated for a moment before walking over to sit beside him. There was an awkward pause as they watched Grillby work. After all, what do you say to yourself? It’s not like Older Sans was going to warn the poor kid, especially when it was possible he would never have to fight an evil Frisk.

“is this the surface?” He asked quietly, still glancing out at the sunset every few moments. Older Sans nodded,

“yup, you’ll end up here eventually.” Sans lit up, mind racing with the possibilities of how they could have broken the barrier.

“so how did you guys do it? break the barrier, i mean. did dad help?”

“wow, spoiler warning, kid. dad...?” Older Sans lowered his voice, despite the fact that only Grillby was there to hear them, “are you talking about gaster?”

“yeah, that’s how i ended up here. we’re studying shortcuts.” Sans frowned a bit at the reaction to the mention of his dad, could it be possible that he wasn’t their dad in this timeline?

“huh, i see.” Older Sans nodded, and Sans felt he probably knew something he didn’t, but he didn’t pry.

“so... how’s the surface? are you married to hot stuff over there?” Changing the subject, Sans wiggled his eyebrow bones, Older Sans rolled his eyes, and Grillby shook his head without turning around

“the surface is great, and yes,” Older Sans raised his hand to show a wedding ring resting on his ring finger, “it’s official.”

“wow, i mean, i was joking?” Sans felt his cheekbones flush, Grillby turned around with plates of food. He set one in front of each Sans, both meals were the ‘usual’ that Sans got when he went to Grillby’s back home. “aw, thanks grillbz.” Grillby nodded and turned back to cooking, and Sans dug in without a second thought. With equal eagerness, the Sanses began eating.

“how’d ya end up on this side of the universe?” Older Sans was entirely curious about it, he’d met a few timeline hopping Sanses, but it wasn’t a skill he frequented.

“shortcut, i guess the void was pissed at me.” Sans fiddled with a fry, unaware of the tense chuckles Older Sans gave him. “do you have ketchup?”

“actually, we’re out. do you know how to get back?”

“trying to get rid of me so soon? i guess so. i didn’t really come here intentionally...” He took a solid bite of the burger.

“it’s more like i don’t want to disrupt your timeline by you finding out things you shouldn’t know.”

“oh.” Sans frowned, a little annoyed he wasn’t being given future knowledge but understanding as to why. Grillby set two more plates at the table and gave his husband a kiss before going to leave the kitchen,

“I’m going to go tell Papyrus dinner is ready.”

“mmkay.” Older Sans winked at his husband and Sans made a face between disgust and curiosity. “what’s with that look, kid?”

“it’s just so weird.” Not that the situation hadn’t been something he’d thought about, but what could he say? Almost all the local teens had a crush on Grillby, he was just old enough to have aged attractively, yet young enough to be within reach. His thoughts didn’t seem to go unnoticed by Older Sans, who smirked at his blush.

“mm, i can see how it would be. this certainly isn’t a guarantee of what’s going to happen, though, keep that in mind.” He mumbled to himself, “not that you seem opposed to it.” Sans couldn’t help but splutter a bit at this, returning to silence to eat when Papyrs and Grillby returned.

“IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU’RE FEELING BETTER, TINY BROTHER!” Papyrus patted him on the head when he walked by to his seat, and Sans felt his grin widen at the display of affection. Just looking at the giant Papyrus made him think about how great of a hugger he probably was, Paps certainly hadn’t had any trouble picking him up outside.

“good to see you too, paps. how’re you liking the surface?” He was especially interested in talking to this Papyrus, so much must have happened since he was the nine year old back in Sans’s timeline. 

“IT IS QUITE FANTASTIC! However, humans can, on occasion, be rude. Fris-” Older Sans gave Papyrus a look, shutting his mouth with magic. Sans glanced confusedly between the two brothers,

“it’s probably not a good idea to talk about people i wouldn’t have known back then, ok paps?” Papyrus’s expression fell a bit, but he nodded in agreement.

“But Mettaton and I already have a date planned!” Papyrus did his best imitation of a whisper; it wasn’t very effective. Sans ran the name through his head a few times; nope, didn’t ring any bells. Older Sans sighed but his grin quirked to the side betraying his amusement,

“i guess that one should be fine. just, don’t mention the human, ‘kay bro?”

“YOU’VE GOT IT SANS! Oh, Small Sans, you’re going to love Mettaton!” Slightly confused, Sans glanced at his older self who shrugged half heartedly. No one would ever really be good enough for the Great Papyrus, but Sans supposed he would have to settle on letting  _ someone _ date his little bro someday. Gosh, Sans really didn’t want to think about his Papyrus dating anyone. He pushed that thought away.

“... small sans?”

“WELL WE HAVE TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE SOMEHOW!”

“yeah, how old are you anyway, kid?” Older Sans piped up. Sans could feel the pout creeping into his expression,

“i’m 14, guys, not 4.” The only one who seemed even somewhat surprised by the answer was Grillby, who definitely would have guessed younger than that. Sans continued, “when do i get taller anyway? i mean, even if it isn’t much.”

“eh, i don’t really remember. paps shot up around 12, but he was taller than me by 10... i’m not sure kid.” Older Sans chuckled scratching the back of his skull. Time before the resets all kinda blended together for him after a while.

The group finished up lunch fairly quickly, and despite the food Sans still felt a bit imbalanced on his feet. The skeletons worked together to wash the dishes,and by worked together, it was mostly Papyrus who cleaned while Sans handed him a few dishes. Just as they were finishing up, the doorbell rang, causing Sans to jump and nearly drop the dish he was holding. Papyrus stood ramrod straight at the sound and panic overcame his expression.

“oh my stars,” he breathed, hand over his chest, “what was that?”

“THAT WOULD BE METTATON. OH DEAR, I’M NOT EVEN READY YET!” Papyrus scrambled out of the room and up the stairs as quickly as possible, Older Sans stepping into his place to finish up the chore.

“uh, sans! geez it’s weird to say my own name and mean you. why don’t you go grab the door? mettaton doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” Sans could practically hear the annoyance in Older Sans’s voice, but Grillby gave him a reassuring look on his way out of the kitchen. Papyrus liked him enough to date him, he couldn’t be  _ that _ bad, right? With a leisurely pace, Sans walked up to the door and went to open it before stopping. He snickered at the opportunity in front of him and knocked on the door. There was an extremely exasperated groan from the other side,

“Sans, darling, I’d love to hear your joke but I’m not here to chat through the door. May I come in?” Sarcasm was laced into the response. Sans was slightly startled by the robotic tone to the voice, it was very expressive but there was just something mechanical to it. Did he know any robot monsters...? Is that even a thing?

“aw come on, humor me.” Sans called back, trying to imitate the slightly deeper tone his older self had in his voice. It seemed to work fine enough since another reluctant groan sounded from the other side. He knocked again.

“Ugh, who’s there?”

“bot!”

“Bot who?”

“i bot you don’t know who this is!”

“... Sans, that wasn’t even a good one, and I obviously know it’s you.”

“aw, man, throw me a bone here i’m just doin’ my best to pa-tella ya’ good jokes.” With that, Sans opened the door to a very annoyed and slightly shivering robot who stood even taller than this timeline’s Papyrus. The robot looked very confused for a moment, his glare turning into one of surprise and moving back to an inbetween of suspicion.

“Why are you so small?”

“aw jeez, does size really matter that much to you?” Sans couldn’t help but let his grin widen, he deserved to have a bit of fun, this guy  _ was _ dating his brother after all(even if it was another timeline). There was no way around giving him a bit of trouble. Sans stepped back to let the robot step elegantly in from the snow. Mettaton impatiently tapped his foot and glanced around the house, displeased with the lack of Grillby or Papyrus available.

“Don’t be silly, now spill little man, science experiment gone wrong?” He pointed an accusatory finger at Sans.

“huh, you must know me real well. yeah, kinda.” Sans flushed in embarrassment, did his future self still have trouble with the occasional experiment? Yeesh, he guessed that one would continue to be unavoidable. “i’m actually from a different timeline? or the past? we’re not really sure. Anyway, uhm, the sans you know is in the kitchen. paps is upstairs getting ready so i’m stalling you for him.” Mettaton suddenly took a new interest in Sans, annoyed expression turning into one of a friendlier and amused surprise.

“So how young  _ are _ you then? You look like a toddler.”

“wow, rude. i happen to be a respectable teenager, thank you very much.” The robot  _ snorted _ at that, Sans couldn’t help the slight pout that creeped onto his face.

“Well, I suppose I should introduce myself then. I am Mettaton! The fantastic actor, talk show host, and more.” He winked, holding out a hand for Sans to shake. He took it while curiously evaluating the robotic appendage. It didn’t work like a normal arm, able to extend and retract almost infinitely.

“so how long have you and papyrus dating?” The question seemed to surprise Mettaton a bit, Sans almost felt bad for not asking more about the robot.

“Oh, just under five months, our anniversary is next week.” Mettaton answered honestly.

“huh, that’s... wow.” After an awkward pause where Sans really looked at the mechanical work of the robot, his grin widened and he chuckled and shook his head, “you look like something alphy could have designed.”

“Alphys? Why yes, she was the one that put this body together.” Sans’s head snapped up at the mention of his friend. Excitement ran through him with the possibility of meeting not only Alphys, but a potentially older and wiser Alphys.

“alphys...” After a pause, he continued. “right. she’s in this timeline too!” He couldn’t help glancing back at the door, there’s no way Alphys  _ wouldn’t _ be interested in this shortcut and timeline business. At least, his Alphys would be more than intrigued by it. She might even have more insight on the situation. “do you kno-” His question was cut off by Older Sans walking in. He practically ignored Mettaton in favor of shaking his head at his excited younger self.

“alphys isn’t how you know her, kid. i’ll explain later.” Patting Sans on the shoulder, Older Sans turned his attention to Mettaton,

“so where are you two going? sleepover or will he be back tonight?” It was pretty clear that Older Sans was not entirely fond of the robot, but he was putting up with him. Sans was pretty unbiased, but it was a good sign that Alphys made him and Paps liked him. He’d have to ask his older self later what was wrong with the robot.

“Sleepover, he’ll be back tomorrow.” Mettaton spoke casually, but Older Sans let out a slightly annoyed ‘tch’ at the answer. They didn’t have to wait much longer for Papyrus to come waltzing down the stairs, and Sans couldn’t help but let his grin widen at the sight. The skeleton was pretty decked out, the style entirely Papyrus’s own while still being quite handsome. If Sans were a more emotional skeleton he may have cried to see his brother so grown up and put together, but he wasn’t, so he definitely did not cry or even feel like it. Not a single bit. Nope. Older Sans grinned and shot his bro a thumbs up, and then Papyrus walked over Mettaton gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“READY?” The excitement in Papyrus’s voice was a bit overwhelming.

“Of course, darling.” Mettaton shot a slightly smug look to Older Sans as he latched onto Papyrus’s arm.

“GOODBYE SANS AND SANS.” Paps raised his voice a bit, “GOODBYE GRILLBY!” There was a faint response from the kitchen, but the couple was already on their way out. As soon as the door closed behind them, Older Sans let out an annoyed groan and made his way to the couch.

“what? he seemed alright to me.” Sans asked innocently, following the other skeleton. Older Sans shook his head, winding himself up in the blanket left on the couch haphazardly. Grillby left the kitchen and joined his husband on the couch, flipping on the television to channel surf.

“you’ll understand one day.”

“that’s so annoying.” Sans let out a groan and sunk into the cushioned chair beside the couch Grillby and Older Sans were now cuddling on. Eventually Older Sans fell asleep, but Sans couldn’t help but be fascinated by the countless shows on the television. They were mainly about humans, until they got to the ‘MTT’ channel, where a very familiar robot popped up.

“oh!” Sans stared at the tv a bit intently, curious about what his brother’s lover actually did. He looked so successful! Grillby was slightly amused by the reaction, it was refreshing in comparison to his husband’s jealous distaste for the robot. It was comfortable as they watched the show together, but as it came to an end Grillby stood to stretch.

“I’m going to go to the grocery store, do you want to come?” The voice was oddly pleasant, it was so rare that Sans got to hear it in his own timeline(usually on the odd night that he couldn’t sleep and wound up at the bar late). The idea of going out in public and seeing so many humans was a bit terrifying, but the option to see what the surface was really like was more than enough to get him to agree.

“sure!” Sans stood eagerly, having to hike up the shorts/pants once again. Grillby chuckled,

“We can get you some clothes that fit, too. Your shoes should be dry by now, though.” Sans laughed at this, but felt a bit guilty. Who knew how long he would be staying there? It wasn’t like he had come to the timeline intentionally. Scarier than that, who knew if he could get back to his timeline anyway? He shrugged off those thoughts in favor of following Grillby to the shoe rack. Grillby handed him his now dry pair of shoes, which he slipped on easily enough before Grillby lead them out another door to the garage. Sans took a deep breath at the sight of three gorgeous cars in front of him, eye lights sparkling. A vividly red race car was at the far end of the garage, it almost looked exactly like Papyrus’s bed except for, y’know, the functioning roof, windows, and doors. The next was a simple minivan, it was nice, but clearly more functional than the other two cars. The last was a tiny thing, fairly box like. Sans was immediately in love with the car. Grillby didn’t really give him time to look too long before walking to the minivan and getting in. Sans went to get in the passenger’s seat, Grillby frowned when he wasn’t even able to see above the dashboard.

“... We might need to buy a booster seat.” Sans huffed a bit at Grillby’s amusement. He waited expectantly, long enough that Grillby realized this Sans didn’t know to buckle in. Carefully, he reached over the small monster to grab the seat belt and yanked a bit of it out before clicking it into the holder on the side of the seat closest to him. Sans adjusted the strap across his body for a moment,

“uh, thanks.” Grillby nodded. The garage door opened behind them, accompanied by loud clanking and the whirring of a machine. Grillby put the car in reverse and backed out. Sans’s eyes widened and his breath hitched as the car actually began  _ moving,  _ it was a bit scary, but he was mostly overwhelmed by actually getting to ride in a car. His head swiveled about, trying to get a glimpse out the windows of the car.

“what’s human food like?” Sans asked a bit out of the blue. He had plenty of questions about humans and the surface, but he kept to the minor ones for now.

“Very Strange. It leaves... residue. Only bits of it can be converted into magic.”

“ohhhh. weird.” It didn’t take long for them to park at the grocery store, it was a monster owned store that specialized in monster food. Human stores rarely sold monster food, but it wasn’t uncommon to find human food in a monster store. Often times, even underground, certain types of human food was consumed by monsters anyway. Stuff like condiments and drinks were pretty universally consumable, something about liquids dissolving into magic better. The parking lot was mostly empty, so they quickly grabbed a parking spot. Sans unbuckled before the car even stopped, trying to get a glimpse of the building. Grillby was amused as he patiently got out of the car, it was like going shopping with a slightly mellower and much smaller Papyrus. They locked the car before heading in, Grillby pulled out a list. Sans was overwhelmed, the store was  _ huge.  _ Random assortments of monsters were shopping. While Grillby went to get the shopping cart, Sans almost wandered off,

“Sans.” Grillby called to him, snapping his attention back to the man. “Don’t wander off.” Sans raised an eyebrow, but walked back over to him.

“what, am i a kid?” They began walking through the aisles,

“No, but the surface isn’t the safe place the underground is. Monster stores are targeted by violent humans a  _ lot _ .” The first aisle was assortments of cookies and sweets, and Sans snatched a carton labeled ‘Muffet’s’ off the shelf.

“oh! muffet is doing well up here, too?” Grillby nodded, carefully taking the cookies from him and setting them in the cart. If no one else, Papyrus would enjoy the sweats. Grillby looked over the list as Sans evaluated the other sweets in the aisle, most were Muffet brand, but a few were brands he didn’t recognize.

“Mm, you’ll like this one. We need to grab some ketchup.” Grillby began making his way straight to the aisle, Sans struggled a bit to keep up with the monster’s long legs. When they turned into the aisle Sans stopped.

“holy...” Half the aisle was lined with ketchup of all shapes and sizes and colors and brands. Grillby watched smugly, grabbing a bottle or two of Sans’s favorites.

“You can choose three normal sized bottles.” Sans positively  _ glowed _ , immediately getting to work at looking at each bottle, asking Grillby about brand preferences, shaking for consistently. It was very dramatic, but he eventually landed on his three. One was a blue colored ketchup that was less about quality of ketchup and more about Sans’s curiosity. One was a spicy ketchup of some name brand that Grillby had given him a recommendation for. It took a long time for him to decide on the last bottle, so long that Grillby began to walk down the aisle and move on.

“aw come on grillby, don’t leave me be-heinz!” Sans couldn’t help but grin brighter at the exasperated expression on the fire elemental’s face. “i’ve got to be honest, i don’t think i’ll be able to ketch-up.” Grillby began walking away, Sans snatched an off-brand bottle that looked almost homemade. He saw Grillby round the corner, and went to ‘ketch-up’, only to run straight into a person of similar stature. Both reeled back, hitting the ground while holding their heads.

“oh man, sorry.” Sans let out a groan, freezing in shock at the person he bumped into. A small human, resembling the only other human he had seen far too much. They looked in pain,

“Ugh... sorry.” The small human had a bit of a lisp to their voice. A much taller woman towered over them not a second later and picked up the small human.

“Oh, are you okay darling?” The woman almost ignored Sans as he uneasily stood on the edge of tears. He hadn’t expected seeing humans again to affect him so much. After caring for her own child, she turned her attention to Sans and crouched down. “Hey little guy, are you lost?” She seemed to sense Sans’s uneasiness with the situation and respectfully kept away from him.

“uhh, yeah.” He looked around hurriedly, but there was no sight of Grillby. Bottle of ketchup still in hand, he kept rubbing at his head. Man that had been a collision, he must have fractured his single hp slightly with it.

“Are your parents near by?” Sans could tell she was pulling the soothing parent voice. He shifted nervously, unwilling to explain that Grillby wasn’t his father so he just nodded. “I’ll help you find them!” She held out a hand for him after dropping the human child in the basket of the cart, and he took it after a moment of hesitation. He felt a bit awkward, constantly keeping an eye out for Grillby.

“uhm, so why are you shopping at a monster store if you’re human?”

“My husband is a monster, he prefers monster food.” She shrugged, and Sans nodded appreciatively.

“uhm, my... dad shouldn’t be too far.” Something felt very wrong about calling Grillby his father, considering how he is married to an older version of himself. He caught sight of flames, “there!” The woman gave him a confused look,

“The fire guy?”

“yeah. uhm.. dad! grillby!” He knew it would be weird if he didn’t call out ‘dad’ first, but it was Grillby that got the man’s attention. Grillby rushed back around the corner and let out a relieved sigh, quickly walking over to them. Sans felt an embarrassed flush wash over him, and Grillby fit into the situation perfectly.

“Thank goodness, there you are. Thank you ma’am.” He  _ picked Sans up _ (Sans was doing his best to keep from laughing uncomfortably) and gave the woman a grateful look. She smiled at him happily,

“It’s no problem, Sarah has a tendency to run off from time to time too.” The woman waved it off and wished them a good day before going their own ways. Sans and Grillby stared at each other for a moment. Grillby seemed to be both amused and annoyed at the same time.

“Leave it to you, Sans.”

“what, daaaaad?” He asked innocently, holding out the word for emphasis. Grillby rolled his eyes and set Sans in the child seat of the cart. It was Sans’s turn to be annoyed. “are you serious.”

“What,  _ son _ ? Not comfortable?”

“... actually it’s kinda nice.” Sans looked around him, carefully dropping the third bottle of ketchup in the cart. “don’t have ta’ walk this way.” Grillby shook his head, and Sans laid his skull on the other’s hands, satisfied with the warmth that radiated from them.

He fell asleep.

_________________________________

 

Sans woke up to the gentle rocking of the car, far more strapped in then he had been before. He flailed for a moment, only to realize he was in a  smaller seat that had more seatbelts and propped him up high enough to see out the windows. Pulling at the restraints, Sans huffed,

“what is this horrible contraption?” He groaned out groggily, prompting surprised laughter from Grillby in the seat in front of him.

“Good morning.” Grillby said a bit sarcastically. “That’s a booster seat, it’s for safe travel in cars for... toddlers.”

“oh, haha, rag on the short guy.”

“Well, it actually is for your safety. Plus it has bones on it, I thought you’d like that.” Sans narrowed his eyes at the man, but examined the booster seat anyway. It did, in fact, have bones on it.

“alright.” Sans huffed in slight approval and shifted, sliding back in the seat to get comfortable. Once he got past the fact that he was nearly immobile, the seat wasn’t that bad. He wouldn’t admit he liked it though. It was nice to be able to see everything as they drove by, Sans learned he they lived in a neighborhood seemingly full of other houses. As the pulled into the garage, Sans began fiddling with the booster seat’s three different clasps, and found they most certainly were not made to be undone by toddler sized hands. “this is the worst.” Grillby opened the door to the van and began undoing the clasps. As soon as he was free he slipped out of the car. Just as Grillby began loading his arms up with groceries, Older Sans opened the door. Sans let out a huff of air, grabbing one or two bags to help out. Grillby stepped in, leaning in to kiss Older Sans before heading back to the kitchen to set their haul down. Older Sans raised an eyebrow at Sans, and he just shook his head before following Grillby inside.

“how was the store?” Older Sans asked, already heading back to the couch where the tv played loudly. 

“there was so much ketchup.” Sans said excitedly, reminded by the ketchup he was dying to try. Grillby took the last bags from Sans’s arms to the kitchen before he could take a bottle from it.

“I’m going to start dinner. Now with 100% more ketchup.” Both Sanses chuckled before taking their respective seats on the couch.

“meet any humans at the store?”

“unfortunately.” There was more whine to the voice than Sans intended, and Older Sans rose an eyebrow at the negative response.

“what does that mean? don’t tell me the protesters were at it again.”

“nah, i actually ran into a toddler. like, literally. and then i had to pretend grillby was my dad because i got lost. after we found him i fell asleep in the cart and woke up in a booster seat.” He made a face, horrified with the idea he might have to be strapped into one of those things again. Older Sans couldn’t help but snicker,

“wow, sounds like quite the trip.”

“yeah...”

The two watched tv in a somewhat comfortable silence while Grillby made dinner. It didn’t take all that long, and by the end of the second show Grillby walked in to grab them. Sans was pleased to see all three kinds of ketchup he chose sitting on the table, and eagerly pulled himself into the chair to begin eating.

“looks good!” Older Sans spoke, stealing the seat next to Grillby. Sans sat across from them, a bit awkwardly. It was almost like he was intruding on a date night. They began eating in relative quiet, mostly just Older Sans and Grillby chatting back and forth about their day, but Sans could tell they were monitoring what they said around him. Eventually the conversation turned back to him. 

“so is there anything you’d like to do on the surface before going back?” Swallowing his bite, Sans nodded glancing back to the window where the sun was now barely visible above the horizon.

“i’d like to see the stars, at least...” His expression was a bit dreamy, trying once again to visualize what it would look like. The other two smiled as well, it was a very Sans thing to desire, Grillby and Older Sans’s first date on the surface had been under the stars, along with their proposal.

“well, lucky for you those come out nightly.” Older Sans chuckled, standing up and motioning for Sans to follow him. Sans tossed a few more fries drenched in the blue ketchup into his mouth before sliding off the chair to follow. When Older Sans remembered to clean up, Grillby waved him on with a kiss to the forehead.

“I’ll get it dear, show him your set up.” With that, they went upstairs to what Sans assumed was Grillby and Older Sans’s shared bedroom. There was a small balcony outside glass doors. Older Sans snatched a book off his desk and slid a large telescope out with him, but Sans couldn’t help going out immediately to stare as the sun set in the sky. “it will take a while for the sun to go all the way down, so have a seat.” Older Sans sat on the left side of the balcony, and Sans took a seat on the right. There weren’t chairs, but it was at least clear of snow due to the small ledge over their heads.

Sans watched the sunset and let himself relax, the sky faded from the almost pink and red to purple and a deep navy. He felt that sense of dizzy endlessness again, overwhelmed by the lack of a pitch black ceiling over his head. When the moon shone through and enough clouds cleared for it to be viewable, Sans let out an audible gasp and stood up as if the added height would give him a better view. Older Sans chuckled, looking up to see it as well. The view never really lost its magic for him, no matter how many resets he went through. Frisk had implied they wouldn’t reset this time around, but this development made him curious what would happen if this Sans was in the timeline when they reset. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to find out.

“are the humans really that bad?” Sans glanced at the Older sans who still sat leaned up against the balcony’s railings. He let out a breath that fogged up the air around him,

“yes and no. i’m not gonna lie to ya’; it’s been rough, but the few good humans are worth it.” It clearly wasn’t a satisfying answer, Sans’s shoulders fell a bit. Even though his own experience had been pretty one to one as far as good and bad humans, it didn’t feel like enough to evaluate a whole race. Sans remembered the orange souled child in the underground, and swallowed painfully at the lump rising in his throat. 

“did you, uh...” He paused, words caught in his throat. “did you have to fight the orange soul human too?” Sans glanced at the Older Sans who’s grin fell into a grimace.

“yeah, i killed them too, if that’s what you’re asking.” The blunt phrasing made Sans wince a bit, and he looked back up to the moon to avoid responding. He rested his skull in his hands against the railing, the sun’s rays were just barely visible on the horizon. The image was distracting, but not enough for him to avoid his own thoughts. If this new timeline hopping skill could be used to jump backward and forward in time, he could prevent himself from ever killing the human. The bigger issue at the moment was how he was going to get back home in the first place. The void person didn’t seem all that friendly, if they weren’t feeling nice he may never get back. That would be a problem. As the sun fell, there was a strange sense of peace between them. A few stars were beginning to twinkle in the sky when Grillby stepped into the bedroom. Sans turned at the noise, but quickly turned back around when his eyes were greeted by the elemental changing into pajamas.

“if you didn’t have a crush before, you do now.” Older Sans let out a big laugh and walked back inside to greet his husband before changing into pj’s as well. Sans let out an annoyed snort and stared very pointedly at the sky as stars began shining brighter with each second that passed. A pile of clothes smacked into his back, and he turned to see that Older Sans had tossed them at him.

“... huh, thought you would have better reflexes than that.” Older Sans seemed genuinely surprised.

“why?” Sans grumbled the next part to himself, “it’s not like i could see you throw those at me.” He didn’t know whether or not he should be insulted by the comment, so he bent down to pick the clothes up. Older Sans was giving him a weird look when he stood back up, “so uh, are these pajamas for me?”

“oh, yeah. you can use the bathroom in the room, it’s the door by the bed.”

“thanks.” Sans walked through the bedroom, Grillby was sat on the bed reading and looked up to acknowledge him when he walked by. Awkwardly, Sans just kinda nodded to him before hurrying into the bathroom. These clothes were pretty much just as baggy, but at least the pants had a drawstring. It helped a lot to keep them up, but he still had to roll up the legs around the ankles. When he walked back out he glanced around for a moment, a bit at a loss as to where to put the dirty clothes. If it were his room they’d just be on the floor, but that seemed a little rude for a visitor. He turned to Grillby,

“uh, where should i put these...?” Without looking up Grillby gestured to the closet. “oh, thanks.” Grillby nodded and Sans dumped them into a hamper inside, trying not to look around too closely inside. When he glanced back out to the balcony it was much darker, the sky shimmering with the light of the stars. He let out a small involuntary gasp before rushing out to see them, surprising Older Sans when he tilted the telescope beside him. Older Sans chuckled at the energy of his younger self, amazed he had ever been so excited.

“you know how to use that thing?” Sans spared a second to glance at his older self,

“yeah, dad gave me one to view the cave ceiling a while back.” He paused while examining it. “this isn’t the same one, but it’s similar enough.” Sans adjusted a few of the bobs and whistles of the telescope before peering into it, grin widening at the sight. Space really was similar to the void, if it weren’t for the few sparks of stars and planets, he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. It was endlessly massive. Older Sans cleared his throat, making Sans step back to look at him, he was thumbing through his book.

“half the fun of stargazing is the constellations, this book is a guide to them.” Older Sans took his seat again. The night was cold, but comfortable. Heat seeped in from the open door, and it helped a lot that Grillby joined them after an hour or two. Sans let out a content sigh, now sat leaning against both Grillby and the door while listening to Older Sans talk about and point to constellations. It was incredibly interesting, the sky painting him a fascinating image, but as the hours droned on into the night he couldn’t help it; his eyes drew shut.

_________________________________

 

He woke up with a sharp gasp, panicking for a moment when he didn’t recognize the room around him. At some point someone must have carried him down to the couch, and he relaxed after remembering the satisfying night. He felt a pull at his soul suddenly, aching to see his own tiny Papyrus. Man, he would’ve loved the view.

“what’s with the long face?” Older Sans stepped from behind the couch, making Sans jump. Pushing the blanket and Sans’s legs to the side, Older Sans took a seat next to him with a steaming mug in his hands. Sans smiled at him,

“just thinking about home. i’ll probably head back today.” Older Sans nodded, trying to hide the slight disappointment and adjusted his grip on his mug. It was nice to have a kid running around the house, it almost made him bring up the idea of kids to Grillby.

“can’t leave a papyrus without a sans, huh?” Older Sans let his grin widen at the immediate noise of agreement. It would have been his number one priority in the kid’s situation as well. Sans reached down for his backpack, it had been set against the couch the day before. This had been fun and all, but worry seemed to rise at the thought of the void meeting him again. Maybe he wouldn’t need that person’s help to get back? He could visualize his own timeline, after all. The silence between them was contemplative, though for different reasons. Sans grabbed a snack that had been packed for him a few days ago. the good thing about monster food was that it didn’t really spoil. He snacked and Older Sans sipped on his hot coffee.

“well, kid, you’re always welcome here. you know, if something goes wrong...” Older Sans gave him a slightly pained smile, and it made Sans wince. This version of him knew something he didn’t. He opened his mouth to ask, but the other stood and held a hand out to him. “good luck.” This time the smile was genuine, and he returned the gesture before taking his hand and standing. Sans let his magic well up for a moment, mostly to feel out its strength. After the naps and food it was back up to what it was before the timeline jump. He went and slipped on his sneakers before turning back to Older Sans. He looked like a worried parent. It made Sans stop, expression softening.

“are you and grillby gonna have kids?” The question was a bit out of the blue, and Older Sans chuckled at his perceptiveness.

“we haven’t really talked about it... we practically do with papyrus! heh.” He brought a hand up to scratch at his chin. “i think grillby would like the idea.”

“you should talk to him about it.” Sans grinned brightly, “i’m sure you’d be great parents.” Older Sans chuckled, a bit of blush brightening his cheeks,

“you think so?”

“yeah.” They stared at each other for a long moment before Sans nodded. “i’ll see ya’ i guess.”

“bye, kid.” With a last exchange of grins, Sans turned and walked out the front door, making his jump into the void.

_________________________________

 

Instead of keeping his mind clear as he did before, he tried to visualize the experimentation room in the lab, focusing in on it. Nothing happened. He felt himself float through the void, seemingly moving but without a purpose. Sans let out a sigh and opened his eyes to the inky blackness. The void worked much faster to materialize the broken image in front of him, the face was just as obscured as before.

“ _ Why, it’s the brave little Sans. Welcome back.”  _ It’s voice came out mocking, and Sans kept his expression neutral.

“hello again. uh, can you help me get back...?” It seemed to pause at this, its head turned an unnatural 90 degrees to the side.

“ _ Yes, I certainly  _ could.” The mocking tone didn’t drop. Sans felt himself grow impatient,

“will you?” It paused at this, its body and the void rippling with the sound of laughter.

“ _ Just this once. Don’t make this mistake again, though. There are over a million choice timelines for me to hand pick and out of those at least 75% are miserable. _ ” Sans let out a relieved breath, but knew this experiment had the potential to be run countless times.

“can i not travel between timelines on my own?”

“ _ You can. It is very taxing and you must have already visited it once before.” _

“Then why didn’t it work...?

“ _ You must transform the void around you, not fool yourself into believing you’re already there as you typically do. _ ” Sans felt his mouth snap closed, more questions begging to be asked. “ _ However, I can also stop you at any point in a jump.”  _ Amusement fluttered into its voice at Sans’s annoyed expression.

“what was this all about? what was the point?” Frustration broke through in this question. If this thing was just going to stop him from timeline jumping, why would it teach it to him?

“ _ The point? Must everything have a point? _ ” It quirked its head and the annoyed  expression Sans returned to him.

“typically, yeah.” The void hummed in amusement at him, though the sound was a bit more horrifying than Sans anticipated.

“ _ Not in the void. I’m sure you’ll assign a reason nonetheless, you’re a smart monster. _ ” It left him then, dissipating into the void. It took Sans a second, focusing on the lab again, but instead of visualizing it in his head kept his eyes open and looked around the void as if to shape the image in front of him.

He didn’t know how long it took for him to get it to work. Countless tries failed until the void seemed to cut him some slack. His magic flowed through him brightly, this time without much aid of the void, and he fell once again. Thankfully it wasn’t far, and he landed on his feet. Breathing heavily, he sat back onto the ground. The training room was dark and abandoned, and Sans felt disoriented. How long had he been gone...? Some time in the void each way, two days in that timeline. Who knew how long he actually was in the void though. Quick to not pass out, Sans began eating a snack leisurely.

When he stood the lights came on, motion activated. He still felt dizzy, but it wasn’t enough to be concerning. A clock on the wall flashed the time at him. It was late, three in the morning, and with a bit of annoyance he realized he had two choices. Go home and sleep until morning or rest there until Gaster or Alphys came in the next day. Sans laid back out on the floor, deciding to stay. It was cold, and he realized he still wore the oversized sweatpants and t shirt from the night before. Whoops, he hoped the other Sans wouldn’t be annoyed he had let him borrow the clothes when he realized they were gone.

Rustling through his bag, he grabbed another snack. He didn’t really feel tired enough to sleep, and he honestly wanted to remember every detail of the sky he had seen. The ceiling of the lab was so dull in comparison to his memory of the surface’s night sky, but he did his best to imagine it lit up with stars the way he had seen it before. It helped when the lights flickered off again due to lack of motion. He finished off the snack and laid there for a long time, daydreaming about the possibilities of his new power, though they were interrupted by the void creature’s warning. It’s not like he could travel anywhere but that one timeline without the void’s help, and it certainly didn’t seem up to being helpful.

Hours passed, and though he had gone back and forth between who he guessed would get there first, he was greeted by the bright yellow scales and a shocked face. Sans grinned and raised a hand to greet her,

“hey alph, what’s up?”

“S-Sans!!! You’re back!!” Alphys rushed over as he sat up and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back.

“how long have i been gone?” He asked as she pulled back, both of them sitting on the tiled floor now. She gave him a strange look,

“Over two w-weeks! Gaster hasn’t been in since the first week you were gone... You h-have to go get him! I’m sure he’s w-worried sick!” Sans’s grin dropped in shock.

“over two weeks...? seriously?” He quickly began to math it out in his head, either time had passed oddly in the void or he had jumped in at a weird place in the timeline. Suddenly he stood up, gathering his belongings almost at a frantic pace. Papyrus had been here for more than two weeks without him? Aw man, Asgore must be pissed at him for ditching work.

“A-are we going to shortcut there?” Alphys asked while he tossed the bag back on his shoulder. He sighed.

“i’d like too, but my magic’s really low. let’s just take the river person.” They began walking out of the lab quickly. “have you guys made any developments while i was gone?”

“I’m n-not sure.. Dr. G-Gaster hasn’t been in for so long, I don’t kn-now that he’s even been working o-on it.” Sans frowned, annoyed and huffed.

“it’s not like he can just stop working because i may or may not be gone.” Alphys raised an eyebrow at him. “what?”

“If this was the other way around would you be working?” That made Sans stop to think. He guessed he probably wouldn’t, but it was still irritating. The two stopped in front of the river person.

“Where to, today?”

“snowdin.” Sans didn’t waste any time hopping onto the boat, Alphys following soon after. It took off pretty quickly, and when Alphys seemed distracted the river person imparted their wisdom on him.

“Tra la la la. Beware the one that obscures their face. Tra la la la.” Sans’s head snapped up to look at the river person, dread filling him at the words. The river person was known for scaring people away, one of those being his father, but he had never seen why. That is, until that moment. Sans only nodded in response, not that the river person was looking for any response at all. He figured a-void-ing (heh) the void person was the best decision anyway after the threat it left him.

Their arrival at Snowdin was surprisingly greeted by Papyrus, who was waiting for the river person to come and take him closer to school(it was a long walk, they helped a lot). Papyrus’s face lit up, eye sockets watering a bit,

“SANS?” He barely gave Sans a second to step off the boat before tackling him in a hug. Unfortunately for them, the boy had gained some mass in the past year or so, and they tumbled down into the snow. Sans laughed loudly, patting his brother on the back. “Thank goodness you’re back... I was so worried! You were on vacation so long!” Sans chuckled a bit awkwardly, knowing that was Gaster’s way of telling Paps something had died. Did his dad think he was dead? Papyrus gasped suddenly, “Does dad know yet?” Papyrus pulled back from the hug to stare intently at him.

“no, we were going to visit you two... why?” His nerves twitched at such a serious expression on his brother. Papyrus stood quickly, pulling Sans up by the hand as well.

“WE HAVE TO GO SEE HIM. RIGHT NOW.” Alphys and Sans exchanged a look, and while usually he’d let his brother drag him along, he sped up to keep pace. Papyrus stopped outside of the lab out back and banged his fist against the door. “DAD! DAD!” He got no answer, which Sans found intensely worrying. Papyrus shook his head at the door in annoyance. Sans stepped in front him and tried the doorknob, which was locked, but prompted a groan from the other side.

“What, Papyrus, I’m busy...” The man stood at the open door rubbing at his eyes. He looked like crap, and Sans almost winced.

“hey dad, ‘sup?” Sans let his posture relax, slipping a hand in his pocket and waving with the other. Gaster’s eyes shot open, and he stared at his son with so much relief it  _ hurt.  _ He didn’t hesitate to pick Sans up, squeezing him tightly to his chest. Sans’s expression softened, and he wrapped his arms around his father’s neck.

“I thought we’d lost you.” The voice was barely above a whisper, and Sans could feel his shoulders shake with the threat of crying.

_________________________________

 

When Gaster calmed down, Papyrus got to stay home and Alphys joined in with the small party they held. It was the hardest Sans had ever laughed in his life, and he felt truly happy.

The next day was full of documentation, logging what had happened and such. Sans learned that Gaster had gotten really far into a full sized prototype machine to imitate the shortcuts.

{So there was another version of you in this... Timeline?} Sans was going over the less scientific bits with Gaster, they sat at their desks long after Alphys had gone home. Papyrus was there too, working on homework at his desk while tuning the two scientists out. Sans’s face turned blue with blush at the memory.

“uh haha, yeah. he wasn’t me though, it was weird. they lived on the surface, as i said, and they were adults. i don’t know exactly how old, but it had to be pretty old... paps was dating and i was uh, married.” His voice squeaked on the last word, and he cleared his throat. Gaster grinned at him.

{Oooh who to?}

“ehhhhhh.” Gaster’s grin widened as Sans looked away with a huff, murmuring it under his breath.

{What was that?} Sans murmured it again, {Hmm?}

“grillby! gosh.” Gaster outright laughed,

{Seriously?} Sans nodded. Gaster stopped for a second to think about it and shrugged, {I guess I could see it.}

“dad! no!”

{Honestly, I expected you to say Alphys or something.} Sans couldn’t have been bluer and put his head in his hands with a loud groan.

“Noooooooooo.” Papyrus looked up at the bickering and cocked his head to the side.

“No what, brother?” Sans shook his head and Gaster grinned deviously,

“Your brother’s got a crush-”

“dad no!” Sans put his hands against Gaster’s face,

{- on Grillby!} Sans screeched, and Papyrus laughed.

“Don’t all teenagers? Snowdrake, the dogs, do you hang out at Grillby’s a lot, Sans?” Papyrus looked confused almost, it was well known Grillby’s was Sans’s favorite restaurant and he’d go there everyday if he could, but between his two jobs he was a busy guy. Sans was oddly quiet for a moment, recalling the several bad nights that he ended up at the restaurant. Gaster gasped at the reaction,

“He does!”

“i do not!” Sans grumbled and turned back to the work on his desk. There were a lot of tests that needed numerical backing, especially when it came to Gaster’s machine. It didn’t help that he could hear Papyrus’s giggles and the clicks of Gaster’s signing behind him. “don’t you two have work to do?”

“SANS! ARE YOU TELLING US TO WORK?”

“I never thought I’d see the day.” Sans rolled his eyes at them but couldn’t help laughing a bit.

“it must mean you’re really slackin’ then.” Gaster kicked the back of his chair lightly, knocking him into the desk. He turned sharply, Gaster smirking at him. “oh that’s it old man, you’re on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHECK OUT THIS FANART! http://belzarvie.tumblr.com/post/141759546724/heres-a-little-sans-i-drew-for also by belzarvie<3 It's of sans in clothes too big for him and i love it  
> By Belzarvie!


	5. Shit Gets Real Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yikes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a new update schedule as of now! The next chapter will be out Wednesday. From now on every three days there will be a new chapter! As a result, they will be slightly shorter, but it gives me more room to leave you guys in suspense. c:
> 
> Thiiiiiis chapter starts getting heavy. If you're sensitive to character death and hospital scenes this one is not for you. Other than that, go ahead! It only gets "Dark Darker yet Darker" from here on out
> 
> Checkout my beta reader belzarvie.tumblr.com and myself at undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com

“Sans, please be serious.” Gaster cleared his voice, unable to hide his slight smile from the giggling assistant further. Alphys nudged Sans, only making him laugh harder. They were all a little giddy, after all, this was the day they had worked toward for the past two years. Sans was now 16 and had shot up a bit. He was at least taller than Alphys and temporarily taller than Papyrus as well. Sans held his few inches over his brother dear to his heart and consistently threw them teasingly in the younger’s face.

“gaster, please tone down the sasster.” Sans let his voice convey the mocking tone. Alphys giggled, and Gaster lightly bonked the boy on the head with his folder.

“Who’s in charge here?” Sans grinned and shrugged in response, coaxing another sigh from his father. Gaster rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m literally working with children.”

“alphys is an adult.” Sans pointed out, mostly to contradict him. They had celebrated their friend’s 18th birthday only a few weeks ago.

“Yeah, but not really.” Gaster grinned at the indignant spluttering that came from the 18 year old girl.

“H-hey!” Alphys paused, her equally bright grin not falling. “He’s not w-wrong, though.” Sans made a fake annoyed face at her.

“kiss up.”

“I’m coming f-for your assistant spot,” The idea of it prompted another series of giggles out of the two.

Gaster stood and looked over their machine for about the fiftieth time. The group stood in the core maintenance room, it was the only place in the underground with enough magic to power the machine. Unfortunately, though, it was also unbearably hot. There was a viewing box for the maintenance room far above them, only a rope ladder connected their platform and the safe platform with the door, and inside stood their tiny crowd of onlookers. Papyrus waved down when he caught Sans’s eye, and Sans waved back. The king, along with several members of the royal guard, stood beside his brother. Gaster let out a long sigh.

“Alright, Sans. You’re up.” Gaster opened the door to the machine. The machine intended to enhance Sans’s timeline ability, allowing travel within the same timeline to a different location in time. While Sans alone could travel to other spaces and times(with the help of the void creature he had been avoiding), they had never been able to travel more than a few seconds forward or backwards within the same timeline.

Sans let out a breath. He had been thoroughly trained in all the controls and how to use the machine in past year. Because the machine’s power source was Sans’s magic, they had left his blasters at home to given him maximum magical potential. It was the first time since he had gotten the blasters that they weren’t a constant drain on his magic, and he could feel it swelling with little control. This overflowing magic, the butterflies of such an important project, and the intense heat of the core radiating up at them all mixed together, and no matter how hard he tried, Sans  _ could not  _ sit still. He shuffled over to Gaster, trying to keep his nerves at bay as he approached the machine. Gaster gave him a quick hug,

“You know the drill. I’ll float you up with my magic over there-” Gaster pointed over to the steep drop that lead into molten lava, into the empty space above, “you give me the thumbs up and turn it on, and you’ll fall, don’t forget to make the rift to the void.” Sans chuckled; falling straight into the core would  _ not  _ be good. With a slightly pained, but excited, look to Alphys and nod to Asgore and Papyrus, he got into the machine’s pod.

He turned on the lights, illuminating a tiny workspace, it was just big enough for him to move around and reach all the controls comfortably. Orienting himself inside, he located his buttons and switches, going over in his head what each of them did. With a sigh, he gave Gaster a bright grin and thumbs up through the front window of the machine, and after a shaky breath, the man slowly returned the smile. Sans could only watch as the window tinted purple with his father’s magic and began moving up. Gaster floated with it, the proximity helping the strength of his hold. They nearly hit the cave’s ceiling, and Sans felt his hands sweat when he was faced with the lava directly below him. It was terrifying being positioned over the lava, with little control over whether or not he fell. He glanced over to the platform they floated up from to see Alphys watching them with a nervous expression. Sans took a breath, and zoned back in on the task at hand. He went over exactly what he needed to do and gave Gaster the hand signal.

“let’s rock!” Sans shouted out, grinning despite knowing that no one could hear him from inside the machine. As soon as he felt the machine drop, Sans quickly began flipping the switches to turn it on. 

The machine’s lights flickered for several long moments before it powered down completely. Panic set in and he began frantically hitting the start up sequence over and over again with no results. Lava was approaching fast. Sans ran everything he knew of the machine through his head.  _ no no no!! _ He twisted in his seat, pulling at the door, hitting the start up sequence, trying everything he could think of. Gaster, who had been floating far above the falling machine started to worry, why wasn’t Sans turning it on? He, too, grew panicked, pushing himself  downward toward the machine.

“ _ ALPHYS, GET OUT OF HERE!! _ ” Gaster shouted to the assistant as a passing thought for her safety, but Alphys’s face just filled with horror.

Sans began hitting the failsafes,  _ anything _ to get the machine to turn on or eject him,  _ something _ . He may not be able to save the machine, but he could save himself. Actually... maybe he could save the machine. He focused on the lava that was far too close for comfort. With the little time Sans had left, he formed a shortcut portal just above the lava, larger than any portal he had ever made before.

By this point Gaster had almost caught up with the falling machine, pushing himself to go faster and faster with his magic. He reached out, fingers brushing the machine for just a moment before the force of magic expelled from Sans pushed him back up, throwing off his own magic. The portal wavered, the combined magic of the core and Sans’s own unending flow was far from stable. Gaster began falling once again, watching as the unstable portal transported the machine and his son out of the timeline. All of the unstable magic welled up from the core, shooting the lava upward to greet the falling man. The last thing Gaster saw was the portal close with his son and his greatest creation crashing through.

Sans’s body slammed into the window of the machine, snapping the seat belt that had previously held him ‘safely’ in the seat. The machine spun aimlessly through the void, propelled by the explosion of the core behind it. Through the overwhelming panic and rush of pain from impact, he registered the sound of a nasty crack. He only had a moment to see chipped pieces of skull fall before blacking out.

 

_________________________________

  
  


_ In a separate timeline far from the explosion... _

  
  


A Papyrus, though not the one we are familiar with, sat silently in an extremely uncomfortable hospital chair. He wouldn’t admit he had taken a few naps in that particular chair, and he still felt groggy from his most recent one. With a pained expression he glanced to the bed in front of him and stood to stretch, quickly replacing the expression with one of cautious positivity.

“Today! It has to be today you’ll wake up, dear brother!” His stretching was interrupted by Asgore stepping into the room. The man made weekly visits, and today he held a small yellow flower in a vase in his paws. It wasn’t the first time he had brought flowers, but it had been a while. Papyrus’s grin softened as Asgore set the vase on the table beside the hospital bed. The man looked over to him with a somewhat teary smile.

“How are you holding up, my child?” Asgore’s voice was soft as he took a seat beside the bed, glancing over to the comatose skeleton on it briefly before glancing up to Papyrus. Papyrus went silent at the question, smiling at Asgore in a way that didn’t quite meet his eyes.

“I’m doing well! As well as I can be.”

“Have you eaten yet today?” Asgore’s expression fell a bit at the awkward shake of the head Papyrus gave him.

“You know I can’t leave, what if he wakes up? He’ll be so confused!!” Asgore stood again, chuckling a bit. Papyrus was such a good brother, he couldn’t imagine the toll this was taking on the kid. He had no idea how Papyrus kept up with school and still managed to be here every time he came in.

“What sounds good, then?” 

Papyrus paused, smiling softly, “Spaghetti?”

“I’ll be right back.” After patting the skeleton on the head he walked out, going down to the hospital cafeteria to find something for the boy. Papyrus moved and sat in a wooden chair closer to his brother’s bedside. There was a painful looking crack down the right side of his face and it crumbled more each day, the pieces fading to dust. He reached over and brushed the loose dust off the pillow gently. Sans’s hand looked so small, Papyrus took it carefully in his own. It was nearly a third the size of his own puberty stricken hands, but he remembered when it was the older’s hands that could curl around his. The bone was frighteningly soft in his palm, it nearly brought tears to his eyes.

Papyrus shook his head quickly and pulled away. Sans hadn’t been particularly touchy feely with him since... well. Papyrus meticulously adjusted his arms to a more comfortable looking position, smoothed out the blankets, and began picking up his school supplies. It was a weekend and he had finished his homework last night before reading Sans his bedtime story, so he had two days to relax beside his brother. He slid the chair away and walked to the desk in the corner, closing the books and slipping them into his backpack. After the first week Sans had been admitted, the nursing staff were quick to accommodate Papyrus just as much as Sans. Everyone knew about the brothers, everyone was hoping they would have a happy ending. But as the months dragged on things were looking more bleak than ever.

Asgore walked back into the room with a slightly steaming plate of spaghetti, and Papyrus immediately brightened up. There was a small table at the end of the hospital bed on which he gingerly set the tray down. Two plates sat there and Papyrus pulled up a couple seats for Asgore and himself.

“Do you want anything to drink?” The king asked calmly, grabbing his own cup and walking to the room’s sink.

“Oh! Water’s fine, thank you.” Papyrus hadn’t realized just how hungry he had gotten until he began eating. Sure, it wasn’t the best food, but it certainly was nutritious. The sauce honestly had more magic infused than tomato. Asgore sat a cup of water in front of each place before eating. It was a somber lunch, but they were used to that. Papyrus enjoyed the company of a conscious being other than the nurses.

His food went quickly, and he let out a satisfied sigh before getting up to clean his plate. The nurses were more than happy to take the dishes away, but he always preferred not to let the food rot away on them in the meantime. Asgore had barely finished up his last bites when Papyrus snatched his plate before he could protest. He smiled.

“Thank you, Papyrus.” The boy nodded, and Asgore couldn’t keep his smile from faltering upon seeing the lack of optimism in the boy’s stride. There was no sway to his movements as he cleaned, not even a slight hum. It was so unlike him and so telling of the effect all this was having on him. It hurt Asgore to see. His eyes moved back to Sans on the bed. His student laid there silently, it only further reminded him of the doctor’s recent recommendation. Sans already looked so lifeless. The doctor had brought up the idea of unplugging Sans from the nutrients keeping his body alive over a week ago. No one wanted to bring it up with Papyrus, even if he was the only one capable of making such a decision. When Papyrus sat back down, Asgore felt another twinge of pain in his heart at how the younger looked consistently looked to his older brother hopefully. Asgore would give Sans another two days before mentioning the option to Papyrus. Two days until the positivity Papyrus held to so dearly could be tainted by reality. Two days for him to start getting better.

Two days.

_________________________________

 

Two days passed all too quickly with less than a peep from Sans. Asgore regretted the promise he made to himself, but Monday night he walked in with a somewhat extravagant dinner for himself and Papyrus. Papyrus looked up from the desk that had been given to him for school work by the nursing staff and beamed at the monster, gasping a bit at the sight of such an extravagant dinner.

“Hello Asgore!! Is that for me?” Papyrus set his pencil down to give the monster his attention. Asgore smiled brightly back and set the dinner down.

“Yes! I thought you might like a nice dinner.” Papyrus let his expression soften at the gesture. It really was kind of Asgore to remember him so often. The king reminded him of his parents. Papyrus turned the lights up, he found the room more comfortable in semi darkness but it was definitely easier to eat in light. They once again dined in relative silence, the conversation only breaking out to chat about school or the kingdom briefly. Papyrus stood and began washing his plate, humming idly. Asgore watched him with a frown, the situation was fairly normal between them now, he often brought the boy meals, but he felt especially guilty about the subject he had to bring up today.

“Hey... Papyrus... Let’s go for a walk down the hall.” Papyrus’s motions jerked to a stop, shoulders falling before he visibly forced himself to perk back up.

“Sure, let me finish cleaning.”

“Of course.”

_________________________________

 

_ The void creature watched as the brave little Sans floated peacefully through the void. The ship had been long since abandoned, the monster has been unconscious for quite a while. The void creature chuckled, reaching a hand out and moving the monster towards him. He was both amused and upset. After all, he had known all along what was to become of this brave little Sans and what was to become of the timeline he was in, but it didn’t help the feeling of sadness. It was always a bit jarring to have another Gaster join his consciousness, each one was so conflicted and each one had issues with the memories and treatment of the other Gasters. They all were so unwilling to believe they were doomed to die the same way, no matter how they acted while alive. This one had brought some heart wrenching pain with him and the overwhelming desire to protect the Sans floating in the palm of his conjured hand. It upset the careful internal balance within him. That simply would not do. Timelines could not be so unbalanced, certainly there had to be one where Gaster had not felt so kind hearted toward the monster. _

_ It took a few moments for the void creature to go over all of the timelines available to him. All of them had living Sanses, however, there were some he was in a worse place than others. Sanses really were pesky creatures, they were always necessary for a balanced timeline, and yet they so frequently wanted to leave or die. He weeded out the ones that were too different from this Sans’s own. No need to shove him into a Swap or Fell timeline, that would be entirely too jarring and the poor kid might get himself killed. He’d probably enjoy a space one, Sanses always do... Eh, the void creature wasn’t feeling particularly kind. _

_ Ah. The void creature looked over a new timeline with satisfaction. This one would certainly do. It was one of the worst as far as Gaster personalities went, and the void creature could feel the timeline’s Gaster churning within him in utter delight at the idea. They had abandoned the timeline long ago while keeping an eye on it, the Sans dwelling within was quite the pest, never able to properly care for himself. With annoyance he pushed the Gaster’s flare of emotion away, a creature such as him had no desire for petty things like emotion. The new Gaster started panicking, he too could feel his counterpart’s sadistic glee. He felt the beginnings of a quarrel within him. Before either Gaster could properly protest or confirm, the void creature pressed the leftovers of the brave little Sans’s timeline into that of the new one. No going back now. _

_ The Sans in his hand’s soul flew down towards the timeline, the body sat there lifeless, unsure if it wanted to crumble to dust or wait for a return of its soul. This time the new Gaster sent an overwhelming sense of outrage his way, an uncontrollable one. _

_ “Be calm. He is not dead, he simply resides within another form.” The satisfaction from the other Gaster and confusion of the new one competed. Sans’s body rested peacefully, settling into an almost comatose state. Perhaps it would be for the best, it’s always nice to have backups in case a Gaster from another time forgot to make a Sans or a timeline doesn’t produce one. Just to be sure the void creature would keep an eye on their brave little Sans’s journey. It would be quite upsetting if something didn’t merge properly, and dealing with anomalies was not the creature’s strong suit. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a new update schedule as of now! The next chapter will be out Wednesday. From now on every three days there will be a new chapter! As a result, they will be slightly shorter, but it gives me more room to leave you guys in suspense. c:
> 
> Checkout my beta reader belzarvie.tumblr.com and myself at undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com


	6. Shit Gets Real Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever woken up in another timeline? It's very disorienting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://drawingaday2k16.tumblr.com/post/141920336457/tbh-this-is-kinda-a-spoiler-picture-for-my-fanfic
> 
> this is my sad son. i drew him because he's in this chapter and ive been anticipating this one for a very long time.
> 
> Check out my beta reader belzarvie.tumblr.com
> 
> See ya on the 16th!

When Sans woke he immediately felt the overwhelming urge to cry. Just being alive felt like far too much as his eyes slowly crept open. He hurt. Not in an isolated sense where he could pinpoint what was wrong, but his entire body creaked with the force of just shifting. Everything felt wrong, wiggling his fingers wasn’t just painful, it was unbearably uncomfortable. Like the universe had made a mistake and it was being channeled through his pain receptors.  _ Damn _ , it hurt. He tried desperately assign reason to the jumbled mess that was his mind. Glancing around briefly, he searched his distant memory for where he could possibly be. His brain only became more scattered with the effort, obscuring the memory more as he actively sought it out.

_ paps. alphys. dad. _

He inhaled sharply, immediately regretting it when pain wracked through his chest cavity. Memories began slowly returning to him, but with the return he also felt a sense of loss. Was he forgetting something crucial? Cautiously, he let his eyes actually take in the scenery around him. The room was almost painfully bright, and from his position he couldn’t see much more than the stark white ceiling.  _ where...? _

It took an embarrassing amount of time for him to muster up the will to sit up, but eventually he shakily managed to get his arms underneath him to shift his body up. It hurt no more than typical soreness, but his head spun so much he felt like it might pop off. Sans couldn’t help but groan, rolling his head in his hands at the stars and pain that shot behind his eyes. The pull of an IV in the crook of his elbow was an annoying feeling, but narrowed down his options for the setting. Sans’s thoughts were disrupted when his hand brushed a texture on a painful spot leading from his right eye to back across half of his skull. Barely touching the injury, he traced the line back until it faded to the typically smooth bone. It was incredibly painful, even with the light touch, the crack had left several small holes and he could feel traces of his own dust at his fingertips.

Sans let his shoulders drop and he leaned back against the pillows behind him, providing him with a small amount of relief.  _ What’s going on?  _ The intense urge to cry hit him again as he glanced around the room. His attention was immediately drawn to the desk in the corner, organized carefully with several books and worksheets on it. While the organization was an indicator of Papyrus, what really made him take a breather was the recognizable(though far more worn than he remembered) backpack propped up against a leg of the desk.  _ Papyrus... _ As long as Paps was ok, things could get better.

Something about beginning to realize he was in a room resembling a lab made his breath pick up and panic start to build, seemingly irrationally. He closed his eyes and sank back into the pillows further. He  _ worked _ in a lab, why would that scare him? Why did memories of the lab hurt to recall? He brought his hand up to rub at his face again and nearly let out a scream of surprise when he caught a good look at the appendage. It wasn’t his usual skeleton hand. If it hadn’t been for the stubby fingers and small palm, he would have thought he was staring at his dad’s hand, a perfectly circular hole running straight through the palm.  _... wait, his dad?  _ The stutter in thought only brought Sans more confusion as two very different people rushed to fill the title in his memories, making his head spin once again.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening unceremoniously, and his eyes snapped up to see who walked in, the fear tripling at the sight of a white lab coat. The nurse didn’t bother glancing to him until they stepped in and closed the door behind them, but after realizing Sans was peering back at them let out a startled yelp. Sans went rigid, unable to help the immediate response to the reaction. The doctor seemed to notice his discomfort, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Uh, Mr. Sans?”

“uh i’m pretty sure that’s my name...? yeah.” It wasn’t a sarcastic comment, Sans really wasn’t sure about much of anything at that point.

“You’re awake!” They paused uncomfortably, standing awkwardly and glancing back at the door, “do you remember why you’re here?” Sans paused, eyebrows furrowing. It felt like his brain was breaking with the struggle to recall. The pain became blinding and he let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to hide the tears threatening to spill.

“no.” By some miracle his voice came out steady. The nurse sighed, but smiled brightly nonetheless, stepping forward to the machine’s monitoring Sans’s magic. Oblivious to Sans’s flinch, they began tapping at the keyboard and going through the information with quick fingers. 

“Well, memory or not, this is really good news. Let me go grab Papyrus, he’ll be elated.” Sans brightened at the realization that his brother would be with him soon. He could really go for some of the optimistic company the boy provided. Maybe Pap would know more about what had happened, too. His head seemed to punish him for seeking out answers, and he winced as another ache ran through it.

_________________________________ 

 

Having moved out to the comfort of a waiting room, Papyrus stared at Asgore, tears streaming down his cheeks. He couldn’t help the slight hiccups escaping from his mouth, and Asgore pulled him in for a tight hug and they stood there for a long moment before Pap eventually pulled back. His expression was painfully depressed looking, it broke the king’s heart to see such an expression on Papyrus of all people.

“Is he really that far gone...?” Papyrus’s voice was barely above a whisper and he was struggling to keep his dam of emotions from breaking.

“It’s been a year, Papyrus, we don’t know that Sans is even in there anymore.” Asgore winced when Papyrus’s breath hitched, threatening to melt into harsh sobs. Gently, Asgore led Papyrus to sit down on one of the plush chairs in the waiting room, comforting him as he cried as silently as possible. “It’s ok to let it out, my child. This is difficult.”

“S-Sans never”-sniffle-“liked to s-see me sad.” Asgore’s brows knit again, Asriel had said something similar about Chara all those years ago.

“You do not have to decide now, Papyrus.” The fifteen year old sniffled again, shaking his head. The comment seemed to do nothing to help the poor kid’s distress. He’d held on so strongly to Sans, to his parents, to everyone, what had he done wrong? It was painfully real and painfully unfair for him in that moment. His shoulders visibly slumped down further, and he let out a shaky breath.

A nurse the two had become well acquainted with walked into the waiting room at that moment, drawing Asgore’s attention from Papyrus. They frowned with slight impatience at the two, and eyeing the crying Papyrus uncomfortably. Such a happy kid should never be reduced to such a state, especially not over a problem that seemed to have already solved itself. Following Asgore’s eye, Papyrus turned toward the nurse too, breathing still being interrupted periodically by small hiccups.

“Uhm, I’m sorry to intrude but... Mr. Sans is awake. He seems alright, I checked his vita-” Papyrus bolted upright out of the chair, not even pausing in running past the monster. The situation hadn’t even registered in his mind, but seeing his brother was top priority right then, whether or not he was comatose.

Tear tracks still running down his cheekbones, he flung open the hospital door, shocking Sans into a rigidly upright position for a moment before relaxing at the sight of his bro. Sans’s expression was bewildered for a moment, before it flashed to confusion, then onto concern.

“paps! wow... uh, are you ok?” His voice came out slightly deeper and more gravelly than he remembered, Sans almost winced at the sound. It certainly didn’t seem to bother Papyrus, who was staring at him with a mix of relief and utter shock. If Papyrus weren’t so overwhelmed with finally hearing that voice and seeing his brother’s eye flick nervously about the room again he would have been annoyed by the comment. Of course Sans’s first concern after waking up would be that Papyrus was in tears. Of course Sans would take priority of Papyrus before himself who was  _ literally laying in a hospital bed.  _ Papyrus shook his head and let his tears fall, walking over and going to give Sans a big ol’ hug. He stopped himself suddenly with a flinch, distinctly recalling how Sans pulled back from hugs, pushing him away several times over before he went into the coma. The memory made him instinctively pull away as well.

This shocked Sans who had put his arms out eagerly, ready to accept the hug, now awkwardly set them back down dejectedly. There was a long moment of silence between them and Sans swallowed the urge to cry again. This was not his eleven year old little brother who didn’t really care if you wanted a hug or not. This was not his eleven year old bro who shouted for him to pick up his side of the room. This was not the shrimp he had left behind... however long ago. And yet he could feel this  _ was _ his Papyrus in a way. What could possibly have happened to make this -his?- Papyrus so sad and cautious? In an indescribable urge to protect the sad face before him, he grabbed Papyrus’s hand. It shocked Papyrus into squeezing back, the small hand no longer felt like the soft and weakened one he held only days prior.

“hey bro, it’s, uh, it’s good to see you again.” Sans spoke. It came out as more of a question, but he tried to brighten his grin a bit for Papyrus. It didn’t take but a second for his grip to be returned full force with an expressive eagerness only Papyrus could portray.

“SANS!” The loudness brightened both of their faces. “You made me worry.” This part was almost muttered, such an intense tone to it that Sans stopped caring if Papyrus wanted to hug him or not. With the little reach he had, he pulled his brother close and held him tightly. Papyrus gasped, but melted into the hug, squeezing Sans back as tightly as he could. It made Sans wince in pain, still adjusting to being, well, alive. Besides, Sans was more worried about the fact that Pap’s shoulders began to silently rise and fall, indicating he was crying again. He relaxed in the younger’s arms, his grip may have gotten stronger and he may have shot up a whole foot, but this was his little crybaby bro. And he loved him.

“you’re allowed to cry, bro.”

“I-I’M NOT CRYING!” The comment was blubbered out into Sans’s chest, only further implying the skeleton was, in fact, crying. Sans patted his brother’s back, marveling at how big he was. How long was he out? This growth couldn’t have happened overnight. Papyrus certainly didn’t seem to be eleven or even twelve years old. The thought of him missing out on seeing Pap grow up made him set his chin on the other’s skull. Even when Papyrus’s grip eventually softened, the boy didn’t let go of his brother’s hand. Sans chuckled, scooting away on the bed and patting to open space next to him. Somewhat awkwardly, Papyrus climbed up and laid out next to him. The sat there for a long moment, content to lean against each other and just be present in one another’s company.

“you’re so tall! what happened to my babybones bro?” Sans chuckled, breaking the silence and nudging Papyrus teasingly. Papyrus’s grin positively glowed in amusement on his face.

“I’m not that much taller, brother!” Confusion flashed across Sans’s face again, though he tried to hide it. It made Papyrus a bit worried if he was honest, but he didn’t have time to think about it as the door opened again. Asgore walked in and looked like he was seeing the sky for the first time, and Sans was swarmed by another hug, this one far fuzzier than the last.

“My stars,” Asgore breathed out, letting go of the boy quicker than Papyrus had to hold him at arm’s length. Sans grinned lazily up at the king. “It is good to see you, Sans.”

“ ‘sup, fluffybuns?” Asgore let out a hearty and nearly tear filled laugh at Sans’s casualness. He gently set Sans back against the pillows and his brother, as if to make sure he wouldn’t get up more than worry that the boy would topple over. The fondness and relief in Papyrus’s expression was so clear, it was relaxing to see him looking cheerful again. 

“You, finally. We were beginning to lose hope.” Sans felt his grin turn down a bit, eyebrows knit in confusion.

“yeah, about that, i don’t exactly remember what happened...?” He stared down at his hands, messing with the new found holes in them. A gentle paw was placed on his shoulder, and Papyrus looked like he wanted to say something.

“Perhaps that is for the best for now. Your goal should be to get well again.” Asgore sent Papyrus a shushing motion. This annoyed Sans greatly, being left out of the loop of his own problems, but he couldn’t protest too much with the fatigue and pain that each movement sent through him. He let out a sigh and leaned against his brother, deciding to go back to sleep. Any prospects of sleep left him the moment the door flung back open and a small platoon of medical professionals walked in. Sans felt that unplaceable irrational fear course through him for a moment. Papyrus noticed and gripped his hand soothingly before slipping off the bed again. A nurse gestured to Papyrus and Asgore, explaining that Sans should be alone for the next part. Paps wasn’t happy about leaving Sans again so soon, but Sans gave him a reassuring grin that didn’t reach his eyes.

“We will be right back, brother!” Papyrus nodded reassuringly to him.

“Yes, see you soon Sans.” Asgore nodded to him on the way out, and a doctor sat in the chair Papyrus had previously taken. The monster held out a hand to greet him, and Sans felt a pang of recognition before placing the face.

“Hello, Sans, my name is-”

“... dr. fran?” He grabbed her hand gently, the movement still a bit awkward through the dull pain. The doctor blinked in surprise, readjusting her glasses with her free hand and shaking Sans’s firmly with her other.

“Why, yes. Good memory, we’ve only met briefly if I recall. Most often while you were comatose.” The doctor pulled her hand back. Sans couldn’t help but chuckle at that, his memory felt anything but good. There were a couple nurses poking and prodding at him, he winced as one adjusted the iv in the crook of his elbow. They apologized quickly and Dr. Fran took his attention again.

“Sans.” She paused for Sans to groggily turn back to her. “Do you remember what lead to your hospitalization?”

“no.” Knowing the answer, he spoke quickly. Frankly, Sans didn’t even want to try to remember, it felt too exhausting. He felt a bit guilty about his lack of desire to search for the knowledge.

“Nothing at all?” He shook his head. Dr. Fran frowned but nodded and scrawled out some notes. She tapped her pencil on the page, “Let’s go over some basics then, if you’re having memory problems. I assume you know your name since everyone has been calling you by it, full name?”

“comic sans g...” His voice cut off, face contorting in confusion. He swallowed, the name had been there just a second ago, but the minute he tried to speak it aloud it was gone. Dr. Fran glanced up after a moment.

“Sans?”

“i... i’m not sure about my last name? huh... that’s, really weird.” His gaze was unfocused as he idly frowned. The doctor set a concerned hand on his shoulder, rousing him out of it.

“It’s alright, Sans.” Sans nodded in response.

“so, uh, what is my last name...?”

“Font. It’s a common one for skeletons.” She shrugged, and he felt very uncomfortable. He could have sworn it started with g... “Age?”

“sixteen.” He answered almost immediately, the doctor had to stop for a moment before correcting the time passed in her mind.

“It’s been a year, you’re technically seventeen now.” That made Sans stop, welling with sadness.

“oh.” The doctor patted his knee comfortingly.

“We will avoid talking about family for now...” She winced, glancing over the records. It wasn’t like she needed the reminder though, most people in the underground who paid attention to the news had heard the Font brothers’ story at some point. Sans’s head spun with confusion. Did she mean Papyrus? What was wrong with his bro? “Where do you work?”

“uhhh, i work for the king...?” He glanced, asking more than telling, and the doctor nodded. “yeah. in the judgement hall.” Everyone in the room stopped when he mentioned it, as if worried he might combust. He huffed in annoyance, was no one going to tell him what happened? Doctor Fran adjusted her glasses again calmly, the room relaxed when Sans didn’t seem to catch on.

“Good, yes.” She began making notes again, but Sans felt like he was leaving something out. He knew he had worked in a lab at some point, but she had already given him the o.k, so he didn’t mention the vague memory. “Where do you live?”

“snowdin.” Again, he responded quickly and with confidence. The doctor’s expression startled with such a random answer and she shook her head slowly.

“No, you live with your brother in an apartment in the Capital.”

“what? no, i’ve lived in snowdin my whole life.” She gave him a weird look, but he looked determined.

“It’ll come back to you, Papyrus will probably get to take you home soon anyway.” He huffed at the partially patronizing tone. “How do you feel?”

“really confused.” The doctor’s chuckle in response wasn’t reassuring.

“Sounds like it. Emotionally, though.”

“uhhh, honestly? kinda scared. can’t place why.”

“You have a fear of medical environments on record.” She didn’t sound the least bit surprised, but it only irritated Sans further. He brought a hand up to rub his skull in irritation and winced when he unintentionally bumped the crack.

“what happened to my head?” The room seemed to stop again, Dr. Fran only considered him for a moment before making a long line of notes.

“An injury in battle. Does it hurt?”

“yea, kinda a lot?” Her expression darkened a bit, she seemed annoyed.

“Alright, we’ll put you on some medication for that.” The clinical wording and somewhat cold tone of voice made him wince. “How else do you feel?” Sans just shrugged, sinking into the covers. He was done with the conversation. The doctor caught on and stood, putting on a professional smile.

“I’ll let you rest. It’s good to see you doing better, everyone in the office has really come to love Papyrus, and there are too few happy endings.” Her smile melted into a genuine one before she waved and walked out with the nurses.  _ happy ending, huh? _


	7. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans learns some stuff, Papyrus is a sad cutie who needs to cuddle his brother for like a year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot to post this lmao. hope you like it, it's gonna get pretty real with nightmares and stuff from here on out. more characters are going to start being introduced as well in the coming chapters so look forward to my gay children showing up. Also fun fact from chapter I think 4 and to this point was all supposed to be in a single chapter originally lmao.
> 
> Dream sequences and flashbacks are in all italics. Idk if ive ever said this explicitly but that's the case, along with stuff the void creature says/thinks/etc.
> 
> Check out my beta reader @ belzarvie.tumblr.com and myself @ undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com

Sans hadn’t really been all that tired, but for once both Papyrus and the nurses insisted that he sleep. It didn’t help that whenever he closed his eyes he saw hole-less hands and the warm face of a smaller Papyrus in his memories, but he tried. Despite this, he didn’t have to wait too long for his eyes to close and drift off into the inky blackness of a dream.

 

_ The transition from reality to dream was always jarring when one wasn’t fully at rest. Sans blinked his eyes open, startled to find the lack of pain and see the blank hospital room had been left behind. This was the void. It wasn’t a feeling you could really forget, but he certainly didn’t feel the lonely darkness the void typically provided. _

_ “sans.” The voice was startlingly familiar. He turned about to find the source, but it was hard to see anything in the darkness of the void. It was only when he came face to face with a mirror image of himself that he stopped, frowning slightly at him. _

_ “... me?” The mirror image chuckled at his confusion, but the amusement didn’t quite reach his eyes. Upon closer inspection Sans realized this wasn’t exactly  _ him _. The Sans before him was just an inch or two taller and filled out his clothes more, but more startlingly had a painful looking crack running from his right eye to a faded point on his skull. His grin didn’t fall as expressively as Sans’s did, as if the constant smile was his placeholder expression rather than an emotion. _

_ “who else?” The ‘mirror’ Sans glanced to the side, breaking eye contact and absently scratching at his skull. Sans laughed nervously. “you must be pretty confused...” _

_ “to say the least.” _

_ “uh, i guess i’ll just start by saying this is probably the only time you’ll see me.” His grin fell a bit. “something happened in your timeline. something important that made the void step in to correct it.” Sans frowned, his timeline... what happened again? That sure sounded like a very pointed ‘something’. _

_ “what happened?” _

_ “it’s not important right now.” The mirror Sans waved it off. “the more you try to remember your timeline, the more you lose my memories of this one.” The ‘mirror’ Sans took a seat in the seemingly open air of the void and Sans followed the motion. “our timelines merged, forcefully. there wasn’t a lot the void saved from your timeline.” _

_ “then why am i still-?” _

_ “because i was already dead.” The conversation stalled awkwardly, making the mirror Sans shift uncomfortably. “mostly dead, anyway. another month or two and i would have been dust for sure.” Sans stared, trying to process the information. In a lot of ways it made sense, but the realization was slow, and he was most certainly missing key factors in the explanation. It made him frustrated. First everyone else was keeping stuff from him, now he himself was keeping things from him. _

_ “so how are you here?” _

_ “that’s not important either. what  _ is _ important is that you’re going to have to be me from this point on.” Sans’s head shot up and he glared in defiance. _

_ “what? no. i’m going to find a way to get back and-” _

_ “there isn’t a way back.” The mirror Sans spoke with such finality it shook him. After a deep shuddering sigh, he continued. “there is important information in my journal at the apartment,” he made eye contact and continued, “it is important you don’t show papyrus or asgore that journal. just pretend you’re getting memories back as you read it. who knows, maybe some of my memories are still lingering around.” _

_ “i-i don’t  _ want  _ this, i want to get back to my dad and paps.” Sans was impressed with his ability to keep his voice level. The mirror Sans gave him a confused look, _

_ “dad?” _

_ “gaster.” Mirror Sans flinched, hard. The name held far different meaning for the Sans before him, and the mirror Sans’s expression fell to concern. _

_ “gaster was your dad? and you want to go back?” He held out a hand and set it comfortingly on Sans’s shoulder. His voice lowered even further. “are you ok?” Confusion was plain on Sans’s face. _

_ “what? yeah. who was he to you...?” Mirror Sans let out a surprised, but relieved breath. He’d met other Sanses as well, but none he’d met had ever had a good relationship with the man in question. _

_ “the journal will fill that in for you too.” Mirror Sans coughed suddenly, the sound rattling. “i better go. there are a lot of people in your memory that i have never met. grillby, the dogs, so many more... they probably won’t remember you.” Sans looked out into the void, the conversation did little to explain anything as the hand on his shoulder lightened and the mirror Sans faded back into the void. _

 

Sans woke up with a start, the suddenness of him flinching made it twice as painful. It was the middle of the night, and as he gathered his surrounding, he could hear a light snore coming from his left. Based on the darkness of the room, Papyrus had gone to sleep some time ago. He sighed, any other night he would be on his way to Grillby’s, but the slight grumble of his metaphorical stomach would have to wait until he could find the will to stand and find food.

Sans stared up at the ceiling idly, thinking everything over. The dream didn’t fade as he grew more awake like they typically did. The thought made him glance down at his hands, the holes were just as startling as the first time he noticed them. It made him think of Gaster, but all the memories from this world’s version of the man were just out of his reach. A journal... It would explain a lot. At least, that’s what the Sans from this timeline had said. Subconsciously, he drew a finger along the crack in his skull. The fine cracks seemed to have faded ever so slightly, but it still ached painfully.

Patience wasn’t really a virtue of his, and, careful not to nudge to sleeping Papyrus, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He felt kinda bad, there was so little he knew and remembered about this Papyrus, but he seemed just as sweet. A lump formed in his throat for a moment as he stared back at his brother before deciding to leave the room anyway.

When his feet hit the frigid floor he shivered. Without the covers of the hospital bed, he realized only a paper gown stood between his bones and the cool air around him. He was unstable on his feet at first, wobbling for a moment before stabilizing himself on a nearby counter. Thankfully, the iv was the only thing strapping him onto the bed setup, and that had a movable drip. The pull on his arm from the needle was still really uncomfortable, but at least he wouldn't have to take it out. There was an ever present ache in all of his limbs, but it seemed to fade with movement. Each step was rough, working to stay silent while moving was more trying than he expected. Eventually he was out in the bright hall, door shut behind him, and he breathed deeply. Sans could tell his magic was too low to play with, as much as he’d love to shortcut out of the hospital, but he was still relieved by the slight freedom. He glanced back at his room number before moving down the hall, just in case he got lost.

The hallway was long, several rooms running along it and an elevator and set of stairs stood at the end. As he walked, he swallowed down the panic his other self had associated with the sterile environment around him. There wasn’t a threat here, there wasn’t even another person in the hall. With that thought, he forced himself along, his step slightly hurried by the remaining panic. He hit the elevator button at the end, hoping he would be able to find the cafeteria on his own. That is, if it was even open. It took a moment for him to consider the button options, but he eventually decided on floor 1. The elevator began its motion, and when trying to stay up against the elevator’s change in force became too much, he leaned on the handrail against the wall.

The doors open to reveal a large open area, tables and chairs sat to the side on tile and sofas and comfy looking chairs sat on carpet on the other side. There weren’t many people down there, no one was waiting in the comfy looking seats, but in the cafeteria there were nurses on break. Even then the crowd was sparse. He cleared his throat, realizing how dry it was, and began walking towards the cafeteria.

“Papyrus?” Sans turned sharply to face a large, furry monster who stood with her eyes narrowed at him in confusion, before they widened into surprise. “Oh, no, my bad.” Sans blinked, wracking his memory for how is bro could know the monster. She wore the scrubs of a nurse, so it was more than likely she just knew of him.

“you weren’t too far off, he’s my bro.” He shrugged uncomfortably as realization overcame her expression and she grinned in delight at him.

“You’re awake? Sorry that was a silly question.” Sans stiffened when she knelt down and pulled him in for congratulatory hug. Thankfully his stomach growled as she pulled back, and the monster giggled at his expression. She regarded him for a moment. “Man, night shift never gets to see the exciting stuff. You look so much like your brother!”

“really? huh.” Sans shrugged, other than the whole skeleton thing he couldn’t see it. 

“So what are you doing down here anyway? I can’t imagine Papyrus went home for the night.”

“nah, he’s snoozing in the room. i got hungry, haven’t eaten in a year and all that.” He spoke, grin widening slightly as he shifted in place.

“Oh, of course. They can put it on your bill for the hospital if you give them your room number. Congrats again, kiddo.” She patted his head affectionately before walking off, and although Sans was shocked by the gesture, he politely waved to her as she left before mumbling under his breath about being the older brother.

He made his way through the tables with the iv wheels clicking on the tile behind him. A few nurses turned to look, but none bothered him. When he made it to the counter he stared up at the menu board, glancing over the options.

“where are your parents, kid?” The monster behind the counter asked boredly, it wasn’t like some kid would be able to shell out the money needed for food. Sans kindly ignored the comment, whether for irritation or for his lack of ability to answer he wasn’t sure.

“do you have ketchup here?” Amusement crossed the monster’s features as they pointed to a condiment bar. Sans glanced over and nodded in approval, “a ‘dog then?”

“Sure thing kiddo, room number?”

“52.” The response was followed by a sigh. He really wasn’t a kid, despite appearances.

“It’ll be right up.” The cashier left the counter to make the hot dog while sans began grabbing ketchup packets from the condiment table. Unfortunately, he was without his trusty hoodie, but he could always bring a handful packets back up to the room with him. The cashier monster brought the ‘dog out to the table Sans had made his pile of ketchup at and began snickering at the amount of ketchup he had already piled up. With a frown Sans snorted up at him.

“don’t judge.”

“I wouldn’t, it’s just funny. Enjoy.” Sans slid the ‘dog closer to him and began spraying ketchup packets into the bun. He was quite satisfied to sit there and empty out a ketchup packet onto each bite before eating. The nurses of the cafeteria let themselves be amused by him for a while, but when Sans continued legitimately enjoying his meal that way it lost its humor.

He was nearly done with the ‘dog when the elevator dinged open followed by Papyrus stomping out. “SAAAAANS??!” Everyone but Sans winced at the noise, though he did feel bad when he saw his brother’s worried expression.

“over here, bro.” Papyrus rushed over to the table, staring at his brother in a mix of worry and confusion.

“Sans! I don’t mind you getting up for a snack, but leave a note next time! You really should not wander off-” He paused and watched horror as Sans sprayed a ketchup packet directly into his mouth, “... ARE YOU EATING PLAIN KETCHUP?!” With the innocence of a saint Sans stared up at the younger brother.

“yes. why, do you want some?” He held up a closed package for Papyrus, who stared at it for a long moment before laughing.

“Nyeh heh heh! What has gotten into you, brother?” Papyrus shook his head fondly and sat across from his brother. Sans couldn’t help smiling brighter with his bro’s company and finished up his ‘dog.

“ ‘m not sure, bro, i just thought we could  _ ketchup _ .” The entire cafeteria, having been drawn into the scene by Papyrus’s grand entrance, groaned alongside the younger brother. Sans let out a few genuine chuckles despite himself. Several nurses left at that point, the ones that didn’t went back to their own conversations. Papyrus’s legs rested against Sans’s dangling feet under the table, the small touch reassuring them both the other was still there.

“Sans, why did you leave the room?” His tone and expression were more serious than usual, and Sans hid his unease behind a nervous chuckle.

“uh, just felt a bit hungry.” The skeptical look Papyrus gave him wasn’t worth the small lie. 

“Don’t lie to me, Sans. Not again...” It was also most certainly not worth the painfully sad tone of voice. Sans cleared his throat and looked away guiltily.

“sorry bro. it was just a weird dream, i’ll live.” He looked back to Papyrus and made an effort to smile brightly, hoping he wouldn’t look too far into it. Papyrus nodded to him contently.

“You could have woken me up!”

“eh you looked like you were enjoying your midnight nap.” He chuckled and squeezed more ketchup into his mouth. It was more relaxing since they lightened the mood.

“ME? ENJOY NAPPING? NEVER.” Back to his usual enthusiasm and loudness, Papyrus flicked at a few of Sans’s empty ketchup packets.

“what time is it anyway?” Sans kicked his feet since they were unable to touch the ground and glanced around for a clock. Papyrus spared a look down at a clunky watch on his wrist.

“THREE IN THE MORNING.” The time didn’t phase Papyrus, but Sans let his head fall to the table with a lighthearted groan.

“that’s too early to be alive.”

“Sans! You’ve spent a year sleeping, you can be awake now!” Pap stood up and picked his brother up out of his seat. Normally Sans would have been ok with that, not having to walk was his favorite thing, but when his bones were just a paper sheet away from being bare and his arm was hooked up to a metal pole he felt a little less secure. Papyrus, however, had already accounted for all of that, and began walking to their room holding Sans and dragging the iv drip along behind him.

_________________________________

 

Later that day Dr. Fran paid him another visit long after Papyrus had gone to school. Sans only had a few puzzles Papyrus kindly lent him and some books Pap had brought in keeping him company. He didn’t mind, it was nice to have some time to himself to think things over without the pressure of worrying his brother. Flashes of memory had come back periodically, but it was too confusing trying to sift through which timeline they came from or how relevant they were to do much of anything about it.

The doctor had knocked politely and only entered after Sans had given her the go ahead. She had a clipboard and paper on it that he assumed was his file.

“How are you feeling today, Sans?” Her voice brought his eyes back up to her face rather than the file in her lap, she wore a gentle neutral expression that indicated openness.

“ ‘m good, a little tired.” He rubbed at the right side of his face, it was mostly numb due to the intense pain meds he was on for the crack along his skull. It didn’t seem to matter how much sleep he got, he was still tired. Not that he’d actually gotten a solid nap in since he woke up at three in the morning. He really didn’t feel like dealing with anymore weird dreams. The doctor nodded at him patiently.

“Papyrus told me you got up to eat last night. Did you have another nightmare?” Mid-sentence she looked down at her notes and tapped at them before glancing back up to him.

“nah, just an odd dream.”

“Tell me about it.”

“uhhh...” Sans stopped, quickly formulating his lie. How do you tell your doctor that you’re actually a different version of the patient? You don’t. He shook his head, hoping the moment's pause would be misconstrued as trying to think back to the dream. “i don’t remember it.”

“Very well. You have a history of nightmares, if they become overwhelming don’t be afraid to talk about them.” Sans just nodded, half rolling his eyes at the lecture. “Have you remembered anything new?”

“not really, i do have a question though.” She looked up in acknowledgment.

“Yes?” Sans spent a moment considering whether or not he was really going to ask this, the name almost hurt to think of.

“do you know a scientist named w.d. gaster?” Slowly, she nodded.

“Most do, he was the Royal Scientist and your employer. Is that something you remembered?” Sans took the information into account and shook his head.

“just the name...” He paused. “what happened to him?”

“Some lab accident, we aren’t really sure.” It seemed to be hard for her to think about as well since she changed the subject. “Emotionally how are you feeling?” Sans let out a frustrated sigh.

“fine, ready to go home.”

“Any sadness or depression?”

“nope, ready to leave.” The doctor sighed.

“... It’s a miracle you’ve woken, please take your health seriously. If not for your own sake, then for his.” Sans looked away, annoyed. He wasn’t quite sure where his frustration was coming from, but he was growing impatient with doing nothing when he could be doing countless things. Ideally, reading through the journal he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about. Dr. Fran took his silence as an agreement and patted his shoulder before standing up to go.

“I’ll talk to the other doctors about getting you home, but we can’t do anything if your magic is unstable.” She gently pushed the chair away from the bed when she stood. Sans felt a bit bad for being rude, but certainly she could understand his discomfort. He couldn’t help feeling relieved at the thought of going ‘home’, though. Jokingly, she grinned to him. “Aw, don’t look so eager to be rid of us, you’ll still get to visit me on occasion.”


	8. Going Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally see the apartment Pap and Sans live in!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this in the morning i swear lmao school's a bitch.
> 
> I'm not as backlogged on the chapters as I'd like to be so there may be a short hiatus coming up due to school. bleh. There will be at LEAST two more chapters until we hit that point though so we good we good.
> 
> Check out the bae -ta reader (get it?) belzarvie.tumblr.com and me at undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Two days later Papyrus brought him clothes, and while he changed in a private room to the side, both Asgore and the staff gathered for a small party to celebrate his recovery. He didn’t bother glancing in the mirror before changing, it was already irritating to see the hospital gown flowing around him without seeing it in a mirror. He slipped it off and grabbed the clothes Paps had brought for him. It wasn’t his favorite hoodie and shorts, but a somewhat plain and professional sweater and jeans that looked like they hadn’t been worn in a year.  _ well,  _ he thought _ , i guess they haven’t. _ Trying not to dwell on it, he tossed the sweater over his head and let out a pleased sigh at the warmth it provided. He reveled in it for a moment. It was comfy, but it certainly seemed too big. Length wise it was fine, it was the form his magic created around his bones while in clothes that was far too thin to fill it out properly. The jeans had a similar problem, they hung loosely around his thighs, almost to the point of dragging down. At least he wouldn’t trip over them like his favorite pair of ‘borrowed’ sweatpants back home.

It was then that Sans spared a glance in the mirror. He winced, dark circles hung under his eyes and the crack on his head looked about as bad is it felt. The holes in his hands once again caught his attention, they were hard to get used to, but more than that made him impossibly curious as to how he got them. It wouldn’t be long until he could search his room for the journal the other Sans had told him about. Seeing his own ragged reflection made him more annoyed at his alternate self for taking such poor care of his body, but it couldn’t be helped now. He slipped on socks and a pair of tennis shoes- ugh, he’d need to get some slippers if this Sans didn’t have them as soon as he got the chance- and opened the door to go out.

Dr. Fran, Asgore, Papyrus, and few nurses he’d become somewhat acquainted with stood beside the freshly made bed, chatting to themselves. He grinned upon seeing the few books Pap had brought for him packed up in an extra backpack. The typically dull room was far more comfortable when everyone in it wore content smiles. The door loudly clicked closed behind him, causing the small crowd to turn to him. Asgore immediately started grinning, chuckling to himself. Sans looked down, pulling at the clothes self consciously. What? He thought he looked alright!

“Where did you find those clothes, the back of his closet?” Asgore turned to Papyrus speaking fondly with an amused expression after looking Sans over. Papyrus looked over Sans’s appearance with approval, the two almost matched.

“YES! I DO NOT KNOW WHY HE NEVER WORE THEM BEFORE, THEY ARE QUITE FASHIONABLE.” Sans felt his cheekbones flush with magic when a nurse winked at him. He sunk back into the turtleneck with embarrassment.

“Indeed.” Asgore agreed, Sans walked over and plopped down in a chair Papyrus was stood beside.

“thanks for bringing them in for me, bro.”

“OF COURSE!” The door to the room opened and a sweet smell filled the air. Sans wasn’t a huge fan of sweets, but who could pass up a congratulatory pie? It had been pre cut and the cafeteria staff member sat it on the small table at the foot of the bed with a stack of plates.

“aw, you guys shouldn’t have.” Papyrus quickly got both himself and Sans a fresh plate of pie before the rest of the group swarmed it. It was as sweet as it smelled, but the warmth and health it provided was quite comfortable. Papyrus was quite happy to chat with the staff, and Sans was content to sit and watch him bustle about. There wasn’t quite the spring in his step that Sans would have liked to see, but he hoped the younger brother would become more carefree as Sans returned to good health. Asgore took a seat beside him, Sans chuckled at how squished he looked in the small chair and the king laughed with him. They sat there for a long moment peacefully.

“Sans, you do not have to return to the judgement hall if you do not want to.” Asgore spoke calmly before taking a bite of his pie, and 

“do you not want me to?” Sans looked up at him sadly and the king shook his head.

“No, no, I mean, if it is too much for you to handle...” Asgore was clearly trying to take a step back, he hadn’t meant the comment that way. Sans set his fork down on the plate and stared at the partially eaten pie.

“i mean, maybe not immediately? it would feel weird not to work for you.” He picked up the fork again and took another bite, Asgore let out a sigh of relief.

“Yes! Of course, take the time you need.” The party continued happily, most of the staff members having to return to work fairly quickly, it eventually was just Asgore, Paps, and him in the room. Sans patted at where his stomach would be.

“phew, that sure was good. you about ready to go, bro?” Papyrus was looking back at his desk, but turned to him with a bright smile when Sans spoke.

“Sure!” He walked over to the bed and grabbed the small bag of Sans’s stuff for him while Sans stood from the chair and stretched his arms ‘pop’. Asgore stood as well and patted each boy on the shoulder.

“Feel free to come by any time for dinner, and do not be afraid to ask for help.” The last part was definitely more pointed at Sans, but none of them said anything about it. Sans hugged the man and murmured to him just below Papyrus’s hearing.

“thanks for taking care of pap,” after a moment he added, “and me.” Asgore chuckled fondly and patted him on the back. Papyrus gave the man a hug as well, and Sans was startled to see his brother was just barely taller than Asgore’s shoulders. Sans waited patiently, shuffling from one foot to the other as Papyrus said goodbye.

“READY?” Papyrus turned back to Sans after Asgore left, and Sans let out a sigh followed by a bright grin.

“as i’ll ever be.” As much as he would have liked to teleport them home, he wouldn’t have given up the friendly conversation as they walked to the unfamiliar apartment together for anything.

The apartment was surprisingly dull. It barely even looked lived in, if it hadn’t been for the few picture frames on different surfaces Sans would have believed it. Pap slipped off his shoes when they got inside, Sans did the same despite how difficult it was with the barely broken in sneakers.

He looked around, realizing that not even memories of his alternate self were coming back with the view. The lost look didn’t escape Papyrus who gave Sans a concerned stare. It was a bit saddening to think his home no longer existed, but at least the couch in the middle of the room was a familiarly vivid green. Not sparing a moment, Sans threw himself onto it and shifted into a comfortable position. It was slightly fluffier and less worn out than he remembered, but he wasn’t complaining. Papyrus stared at him somewhat absently before smiling and sitting beside him.

“it’s nice to be home.” Sans let out a content sigh and wiggled his toes in his socks before throwing his legs over Papyrus’s lap.

“Good! It is, isn’t it?” Papyrus rested his arms on Sans’s legs and moved to flip on the television with the remote. There was little as far as entertainment went on the tv, but it was really just background noise anyway. It was satisfyingly domestic, like there hadn’t been any break in time. Sans already felt himself beginning to drift off;  _ that’s what a long walk after pie does to a guy, he guessed _ .

_________________________________

 

_ Fear ripped through Sans's awareness. There was nothing but the feeling of being strapped down against the bitterly cold table beneath him and panic filled fear. He could hear himself breathing heavily, raggedly; instinctively rather than intentionally. A figure stepped into view above him, though his eyes were too unfocused to decipher the image. _

_ “Oh please, stop being a baby. This one wasn’t nearly as bad as the last  _ and  _ it was a success.” The last part of the sentence made the cold voice fluctuate with glee. In fact, the creature’s voice above him seemed far too gleeful for the insane amount of fear and pain he felt. It made his eyelids droop, overwhelmed. “Don’t you faint on me, we’ll have to restart entirely. And, of course, you know it’s worse when I’m frustrated.” The sweet amusement in the voice made his magic twist inside him with disgust and panic. Calm down, he demanded himself, this isn’t helping. It seemed to work minutely, as the figure above him hummed happily. _

_ “See? That wasn’t so hard.” Sans winced when he felt slender fingers rest against his head, stroking along his left eye socket. The burn increased with the touch, magic seemed to manifest and focus on that eye. “You’re taking to the DT just fine. Pain is to be expected, after all, you are quite weak.” His breathing began to steady, and the figure pulled his hand away. _

_ “Now to see how it will affect you long term.” Eyes refocusing slightly, he moved his head to watch the person slide away on a rolling chair. His hands twitched with the urge to make some sort of remark, anything. _

_ “sadist.” His voice was raspier and less stable than he would have liked, but the harshness and emotion was still behind it. _

_ “Yes, yes, we’ve covered this subject one, I am indeed.” The figure didn’t turn back to him. “But you must be a masochist to put up with it.” Anger boiled in his gut by the implication, he began struggling against the straps on the table. It was a waste of energy, only causing pain to rush through him and his breath to leave him again. The man laughed uproariously with glee,“See? You are only proving my point, Sans.” _

_ “Sa _ ns..” 

“SANS!” Sans jolted awake, shooting upright and knocking skulls with Papyrus. They groaned in unison, it wasn’t hard enough to take HP, thank goodness, but it still hurt. Tears that had gathered in Sans’s eye sockets from the dream spilled over onto his cheeks from the pain that stabbed through the crack in his skull. Papyrus quickly recovered and pulled his older brother into a hug. Panic welled in Sans’s chest momentarily upon being restrained, but he relaxed at the gentle thrum of Paps’s soul in his chest.

“thanks pap.” Sans spoke softly, arms tightening around the other to return the hug. Wordlessly, Papyrus rubbed his back soothingly. They sat like that until Sans pulled back, the tv was still running white noise in the background. Once again the dream didn’t fade, he could tell it had been a memory. The realization made him shudder again.

“Was it the human one?” Papyrus didn’t sound all that surprised, relaxing back into the couch when Sans leaned against him.

“what? oh, uh, no.”

“The one where I die?”

“no.”

“What about-”

“pap it’s alright now, i think it was a memory.” He sighed and wiped the remaining tears from his face. Jeez, he hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with the apparent bounty of nightmares his alternate self dealt with. Papyrus wrapped an arm around him and pulled him closer. He wasn’t going to lose Sans to hopelessness again.

They sat there until their stomachs growled, Papyrus was more than eager to make dinner for them. While Papyrus bustled about in the kitchen, Sans remembered the journal and began looking around for a door to his room. It wasn’t hard to find, a door in the back of the only hallway in the apartment. The room was a total mess. His alternate self was somehow even worse than he was, and he almost had the urge to clean it. Almost.

He stepped over mounds of clothing and trash, considering where he might hide something in the room. Under the mattress was his first instinct, but he was only greeted with bottle of year old ketchup. Even he could admit that was gross. The second place he looked was his sock drawer, which was entirely devoid of both socks and anything of interest. With a glance around the room he felt annoyance; he was going to have to clean if he wanted to find it, at least enough that he could walk around without stepping on something. Sans began with the bed, not making it of course, just clearing out ketchup bottles. He quickly realized he’d need a trash bag, and walked back out to the kitchen. Papyrus was humming to himself while cooking, Sans almost felt bad to interrupt.

“hey, pap, do we have trash bags?” His brother gave him a curious look.

“Sure!” He grabbed one for Sans from under the counter. “Why do you need one?”

“it’s really gross in my room.” The bag swayed slightly in the air and Sans took it from him. “thanks, bro.” Papyrus stared in shock as Sans walked back to his room to clean up.

He shoveled the ketchup bottles into the trash sack along with the particularly gross looking clothes and trash. It took nearly an hour for him to gather all of it up. He piled the salvageable clothing into a corner and sifted through the rest of the trash. Some of it was cool enough for his standards, but most of it was tossed into now the billowing trash bag. And yet, there was no sign of a journal.

Papyrus opened the door to the room and glanced around in semi approval. Sans had his back turned to him, scratching the back of his skull and glancing around the floor in confusion.

“Sans, dinner is ready!” Sans jumped, turning to see his brother and relaxing, Paps stepped inside. “Wowie, it looks great in here! I can even see the floor!” With a snort, Sans sat on the ground again.

“thanks! do you think you could take the trash bag out for me? i’ll be out in a bit.”

“Sure thing, brother!” Papyrus swung the trash bag over his shoulder and practically danced out of the room. Cleaning was something Papyrus would always be willing to help with. Sans spent another moment searching before giving up for the time being. Brushing grime from his hands, he went back out to the kitchen just as Papyrus walked back into the apartment.

“whatd’ja make, bro?”

“I’m not sure! It’s a recipe the neighbor gave me!”

“oh. uh, smells good.” Sans took a seat at the table while Papyrus dished them some. It was very hard to tell what the meal was supposed to be, maybe some kind of soup? It didn’t taste good at all.

To save dinner, Sans turned off his tongue and ate slowly, no longer able to taste the meal. “wow it’s really good, thanks paps.” Papyrus beamed brightly and finished his own up.

“YOU ARE VERY WELCOME! It was quite fun to make!!” After they both finished Sans offered to clean up, but Papyrus wouldn’t let him do it without help. They stood side by side at the normal sized sink( _ weird, didn’t papyrus extend the height of this? maybe it hadn’t been an option in an apartment... _ ) and handed the dishes back and forth. 

“so do you have school to-marrow?”

“Yes! ... that better not have been a pun.” Sans gave him an innocent grin and blinked a few times at the younger’s eye roll. Papyrus paused, frowning slightly. “Will you be okay here?”

“ ‘course, bro. i’ve got it covered.” As much as Sans loved the idea of hanging out with his brother, he had a lot to figure out. Ideally, where that journal could possibly be. He dried the bowl and handed it back to Papyrus to put away before wiping his hand on the sweater. Paps still looked hesitant at the idea of being away, but Sans gave him a quick hug. “i’ll call you if i need anything, ‘kay bro? it’s not like you’ll be gone the whole day, ‘s just school.”

“Alright! Feel free to do so, brother!” Satisfied, Papyrus left the kitchen before stopping. “Sans?”

“yea, bro?” Sans followed his brother out of the kitchen, slipping his hands into his pockets.

“Can you read to me?”

“oh, yeah. let’s go.” Sans’s grin widened brightly. This was going to be the best damn story Paps had ever been read in his life.

Papyrus chose a classic; Peekaboo with Fluffy Bunny. The sight of the old book made Sans’s grin soften fondly. He went all out in reading it, voices and all. Papyrus was asleep half way through. Sans closed the book gently and set it on the bookshelf across from Paps’s race car bed. Before leaving the room he glanced back at the younger brother once and sighed.  _ what all did he have to put up with when his sans left?  _ He felt his anger rise again at the other Sans. What had happened? Did it have to do with the Gaster accident? He needed answers, but he knew the journal wasn’t going to have all of them.

And then there was the whole deal of trying to get back his own timeline. Was it worth it? Man, he really wished his dad was there to talk it over. The man was always the best at encouraging the most feasible ideas and weeding out the useless stuff.

He didn’t bother closing the door to Papyrus’s room behind him as he shuffled toward his own recently cleaned room. If he had time he should really do some laundry, the pile in the corner was obnoxious. Where hadn’t he checked yet...? His eyes glanced around the room, trying to look more at the big picture rather than the small nooks he could hide it. He’d checked inside everything he had, the drawers, the bed and bed frame, corners of the carpet, and even under the giant mess... As Sans looked over everything, his eyes came to a stop at a door he didn’t notice before. A closet? Since when did he have a closet?

Sure enough, when he opened the door there were only sweaters, jeans, and an odd lab coat on the hangers, anything he would actually wear littering the ground of it. He tossed the clothes at the bottom of the closet to the pile, at least the not disgusting ones, only to jostle a box that thudded.  _ oh.  _ Relief hit him as he shakily picked the box up. It was a shoe box, he opened the lid eagerly to find not a single journal, but three well worn journals. One was labeled “Notes” in wingdings, one wasn’t labeled at all but looked the most used, and the last one had strict documentation, labeled “Experiments”.

Where to start? It was a lot to take in, but he couldn’t help feeling some dread at the books. The notes and experiments more than likely went together, so he grabbed the unlabeled one. He shoved the others back into the box and hid them under a few particularly gross jackets. There, Pap wouldn’t touch that even if he did feel an urge to clean. Sans got up and plopped onto his bed, thumbing through the notebook. It gave him a sense similar to deja vu, like he could almost remember the feeling of worn leather in his hands and laying down the blue ink. To be frank, it was all rather exhausting.  _ well, ‘s not like i don’t have time.  _ He shoved the book down the crack where his bed met the wall, temporarily hiding it. Hopefully he could finally get some decent sleep.


	9. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans remembers some shit whoo boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title to this fic: thanks for the memories the certainly were not so good
> 
> belzarvie.tumblr.com was the beta reader for this chapter! Check her out!
> 
> Per usual I am at undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com
> 
> Enjoy!

Sans woke up to the underground’s faux light streaming through a window in his room. He knew Papyrus had probably already gone to school, and before he got out of bed he grabbed the notebook from the nook he hid it in. Before leaving the room he threw some covers over it and slid on a pair of slippers he’d found amongst the mess. He made his way through the living room, noting that his brother’s backpack was gone, only his shoes sat by the door. When he made it to the kitchen he noticed a small note on the table, written in a thin but large font:  _ SANS! THERE ARE LEFTOVERS IN THE FRIDGE IF YOU ARE HUNGRY, I WILL BE BACK BY FOUR! _

Sans tapped the note with his fingers, appreciating the thought his brother gave him. How cool was his brother? The coolest. He grabbed some of the soup leftovers from the fridge and ate it cold; it was actually a little better almost frozen. The emptiness and freedom of the house gave him some relief and he sighed comfortably while sitting with the cold soup at the table. He knew it would probably be a hard day ahead of him, uncomfortable memories and the potential of forgetting the little he remembered of his own timeline didn’t exactly make him eager. It was necessary though. So, pushing his concerns aside, he ate quicker.

Sans glanced at the clock when he finished up, it was just past nine, he must have barely missed his brother. With renewed energy, he trekked back to his room and cuddled up on the bed with the journal. He ran his hand over its cover, the motion and feeling familiar, but not enough to give him a feeling beyond a weird sense of deja vu. Before really reading it, he opened the cover to see if it was signed. His full name sat before him, or at least this timeline’s version of it, Comic Sans Font. He turned the page and began reading.

The beginning was painfully dull. It did nothing to remind him of anything, it only made him sad. For some reason this timeline’s Sans seemed incredibly sad and kept referring to an incident as if he would automatically understand what that meant. He skipped a lot. Grabbing a chunk of the notebook, he flipped until Gaster’s name appeared abruptly before him. He glanced at the date of the entry and was brought back into the time. It almost felt like passing out or going to sleep the flashback was so intense.

 

_ “Sans, when was the last time you ate?” Gaster walked into the shared office and tossed his papers on his desk. His tone was frustrated, which was never a good sign, but he didn’t seem to be dangerously so. Sans didn’t bother looking up to regard his boss, he was in the middle of going over the day’s notes. _

_ “another experiment so soon?” The only reason his boss ever asked about his well being was when it pertained to work or something of the man’s own interest. Frankly, it was probably the only reason he was alive at this point. Gaster frowned down at his assistant before walking towards the smaller and more haphazard desk. _

_ “Despite our arrangement, I am allowed to care for your well being.” The snort Sans gave in response only seemed to flare his anger. “Don’t give me attitude Sans, I have hundreds of experiments in mind and it doesn’t bother  _ me  _ whether or not you are uncomfortable.” The sudden increase in volume of Gaster’s voice made Sans sink back into his chair slightly. Sans sighed and rubbed at his eye sockets. It was clear to him that Gaster wasn’t going to leave him be until he gave the man an answer. _

_ “i don’t remember.” He managed to mumble out. Talking was too much effort. Why did Gaster keep on insisting on bothering him? Both knew the scientist had better things to do. _

_ “You don’t. Remember.” Gaster’s tone was entirely patronizing, punctuating each word with an amused sort of irritation. It made Sans grit his teeth. Gaster rested his hip on the side of Sans’s desk, the assistant continued to pretend he was ignoring his boss’s presence. The doctor’s worries weren’t unfounded, Sans really did look like crap. Dark circles rested under his eye sockets, the unhealed crack on his head seemed more pronounced. His left hand twitched on occasion, wrapped up in bandages from their recent experiment. He was hunched over his notes in a desperate attempt to ignore the man, but it didn’t seem to be working. Jarringly, Gaster tapped his fingers on Sans’s notes to draw his attention. “Please recall that our arrangement doesn’t allow you to kill yourself.” Sans rolled his eyes and fell back in his seat to look up at Gaster. The smug expression on his boss’s face only annoyed Sans more. _

_ “if i were trying it’d be done.” _

_ “Oh, I don’t doubt it. You have the determination.” Gaster chuckled brightly at his own joke, stepping away from the desk. DT injections were the first experiment they’d started, small amounts over time. It would be the lengthiest and ultimately most painful of their experiments. “I’m getting us lunch. What do you want?” Sans looked away, feeling Gaster’s gaze sharpen. _

_ “ ‘m not hungry.” They both knew it was a thinly veiled lie. _

_ “Stop being such a little bitch.” _

_ “shut up  _ dad. _ ” _

_ “Oh, I’m so wounded.” Gaster placed a hand on his chest dramatically, feigning hurt. Dissatisfied with the lack of response it drew, he walked out of the office. The moment he was gone Sans, let out a frustrated groan and stood up, sharply kicking his chair in the process and successfully knocking it over with a bigger sound than he expected. Harsh footsteps from the hall came to a stop, and Sans heard a very loud and very annoyed voice yell down the hall at him; “I’M STILL IN THE OFFICE, MORON.” Marching over to the door, Sans practically slammed it shut, again louder than he probably should have. It was satisfying nonetheless. _

 

_ An hour later Sans paced the room, feeling entirely too weak to be wasting his energy in such a way. It was hard to concentrate on his work, every time he sat down he felt the overwhelming need to sleep.(It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been caught sleeping at his desk, but he’d rather not wake up to magic injections.) He glanced at the clock impatiently. Gaster would kill him if he went home before 5- not literally- but it wasn’t like he was getting anything done here. If he had hair he’d be pulling it out. How long did it take to grab something to eat?  _

_ Sans jumped when he felt a hand land on his shoulder, turning to see an incredibly smug Gaster waving a bag in front of his face. It smelled heavenly, almost intoxicatingly so, but Sans was more concerned that the doc had snuck up on him. When had he gotten back in? Sans glanced to the now open door of the office, frowning. _

_ Gaster’s face passed from smug to concerned when Sans stared blankly at the door. Damn, he was more gone than he thought. He really should pay more attention to a subject so willing to let himself go. _

_ “... Kid?” It drew his assistant’s attention back from the door. “Eat. Seriously.” Gaster shoved the the bag into Sans’s chest before turning back to his own desk to eat. While Sans found the tone too soft for the man, it made him realize how bad he must be. He sat at his desk, turned away from Gaster. _

_ After eating the first fry, he really couldn’t stop eating until it was gone. He was scarfing it down, trying to be as fast and quiet as possible. The fresh flow of magic was soothing, but he consciously kept the magic from swelling along the crack on his skull and healing it. The burger and fries were gone far too quickly, but he felt so much better having some magic in him. He wiped his hands on a napkin that had been thrown into the sack and sighed before turning around to throw his trash out. _

_ The man wasn’t even halfway through his burger, having barely touched the fries. Gaster turned back to check on his assistant. The kid could be so stubborn, he decided if Sans wasn’t eating he’d just inject him with magic. Basically the same idea. He was slightly surprised and amused to find Sans already finished, stuffing the trash in the sack it came in. _

_ “That was fast.” _

_ “shut up.” _

_ “Sans, that’s an awfully rude thing to say to your boss.” _

_ “whatcha gonna do, fire me?” Sans immediately regretted the remark when Gaster’s face darkened and the man laughed humorlessly. Gaster folded his hands under his chin, patiently regarding Sans in a way that made him seem more like a piece of meat rather than the creature with a scrap of intelligence he usually gave him credit for. _

_ “Well, I suppose not. What are you going to do though, quit?” They had had this discussion countless times, both were in a stalemate. Neither were entirely happy with the situation, but they both needed the other. Gaster would have much preferred an unconscious test subject to work with, Sans would prefer a less sadistic and semi abusive boss. But, Gaster had to take what he could get when it came to subjects, the fact that they were both skeletons was already an overwhelming advantage he hadn’t counted on. And Sans needed the cash to raise his kid brother. Even if he could go without food, Papyrus couldn’t. Gaster took the silence as an agreement to his sentiment. He turned back to his own work. “I asked for extra ketchup packets, they should be in the bag.” _

_ “thanks.” _

 

The memories cut out and Sans felt relief for a moment. He was... on his bed. In the other timeline. He sighed deeply, the journal sat shakily in his hands, he’d barely even read about the day catalogued on the page, but just the sight of the date was enough to trigger the flashback. Well, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the dreams. It gave him hope that some good memories might come back in a new clarity. Plus, he didn’t seem to have forgotten anything. Huh. Maybe Gaster hadn’t been all bad in this timeline...? At least, not badly enough that he’d kill Sans or let him die. Sans shuddered, remembering the pain his nightmare had reminded him of during his nap the previous day.

The memory gave him a starting point in recovering other memories. He rushed over to the closet and pulled out the experiments notebook, flipping to a date only a week before the memory he had witnessed. It was written incredibly sloppily, it stood out strangely in comparison to the other entries. Sure, the handwriting had been comparably bad in the last entry than in the beginning, but laziness makes a hand weaker.

Or so he thought. He quickly learned exactly why his handwriting had come across poorly as he deciphered the words on the page.

 

_ Day 23 In Lab _

_ 05-09-20XX _

_ Experiment 3 _

 

_ Log 1 _

_ DT Injections are going as normal, no increase or change in behavior as far as those go. Dr. Gaster is insistent that Subject One will need a form of magic to keep potential overflows in check. This is not yet an issue as Subject One has been unable to use magic since the human incident, however, the doctor is confident it will quickly become a primary concern. _

_ As a result of these concerns, specialty bullets were formed with the subject’s own physical matter. The palm of his left hand has been removed in order to create this new weapon. The weapon is temporarily in stasis so as to protect the subject’s magic and prompt a quicker return of it. _

Sans had to stop reading for a moment, ghost pains in his left hand flaring up at a distant memory. ‘Subject One’ was definitely a familiar title, but all he could recall were voice logs of shortcuts... Or were they called teleporting? He couldn’t remember.

His breath caught when he read “the human incident”, though. Could that be what everyone was trying to hide from him? That he’d killed the human? It didn’t quite seem plausible, he certainly didn’t have such an intense reaction that it lasted years back in his timeline. Guilt spread through him at the thought. Maybe he hadn’t mourned the human properly... The reading didn’t cause his memories to return full force and cause a flashback like the other, so he continued after flexing his hand to work out the pain.

 

_ Subject One was put under for the experiment due to concerns of panic causing the subject’s demise. It was done slowly so the doctor could heal him each step of the way, one hp is a fragile thing. The doctor voiced his distaste with the Subject’s choice to refuse aid in being healed, it is uncertain whether or not the subject will ever be able to recover above a single hp again. DT injections may help. _

 

_ Log 2 _

_ Experiment was successful. Subject One is recovering, however he lacks some basic motor functions of his hand. It is suspected they will return with time and use. The weapon is manifesting under strict guidance of Dr. Gaster and will be used in a test approximately two weeks from now should Subject One’s magic recover properly. _

 

_ Log 3 _

_ Results were so successful another experiment will be run using Subject One’s opposite hand, Dr. Gaster is very pleased with the results. There is a chance he may also proceed to use this one on himself as well. _

 

Sans cringed. There’s no way these could mean the Gaster Blasters, could it? He’d suspected it was why his dad’s hands had been so deformed, but this seemed to have confirmed it. It was hard enough to get used to having holes in his hands, but to also know that somewhere there were gaster blasters unaccounted for made him all the more worried. He might have to stop by the lab. The thought made him shudder.

He grabbed the other two notebooks and went back to the bed. Maybe they were all really that closely tied after all. He really didn’t want to look at what he assumed were Gaster’s notes. The man certainly didn’t seem to be the kind father he’d left behind in this timeline, and it was worrying. At least he didn’t have to worry about dealing with him in person...

Stacking the experiments and notes journals to the side, he picked the personal journal back up, he had marked the page he was on so it wasn’t too hard to pick up about where he left off. 

 

_ the doc’s been pissed I haven’t been eating. today he threatened to just keep me on an iv drip of magic if i refused to eat again. _

The next part was just lines of cursing the doctor out for one reason or another. Sans didn’t pay much attention to it, this timeline version sure had an attitude. He wondered if he was really doing an ok job imitating it? Eh, whatever, it’s his life now.

_ he’s given me warning for the next experiment, about a week. it’s going to be the same as the last but with my other hand. you’d think the guy wouldn’t have let me get used to writing with my right hand if he was just gonna kill it too. on the other hand(heh) the doc says he’s going to do the experiment on himself too, says the potential of the magic monitor to be a weapon with great power is too great to give to such a weak monster. thanks dings. _

Sans let out a few chuckles, knowing that his father hated his first name and any nickname that came along with it. Maybe this Gaster was the same way? The entry ended there, the next page was several dates later and in slightly more scrawled handwriting.

_ bastard moved the date up. hurts to  _ [illegible] _. something went wrong with the experiment, he won’t tell me what. paps was worried out of his mind, says i was gone for days. one of the few things i request of that bastard is that i can get home to pap and  _ [illegible for several lines] _. _

_ dings better let me know what this has all really been for. it hurts way too much to not even see the product of it. ugh. _

Curiosity won out over his better judgement, he grabbed the experiment book again and flipped to experiment four. It wasn’t in his own messy scrawl, it was in wingdings.

 

_ Day 25 In Lab _

_ 05-11-20XX _

_ Experiment 4 _

 

_ Log 1 _

_ A series of complications occurred with the continuation of experiment 3. Subject One’s physical form seems to be reaching its limits. How disappointing. The next experiments will be addressing this instability. _

_ Such complications are likely the result of Subject One’s complete apathy for self preservation. Should he not step up soon I will have to intervene in more matters than his professional life. I am no babysitter, I do not look forward to this, but if I am to maintain a functional subject for years to come it may be my only choice. _

_ As of now the experiment seems to have been somewhat successful despite the complications. Subject One is recovering and has not woken up, though I am certain it will be several days before a full recovery is made. The matter retrieved has not yet formed into the skull shape as its predecessor did, but it is not fading to dust either. It is likely as [eraser marks] Subject One recovers the skull will form. _

_ Log 2 _

_ Subject One has recovered consciousness and is very disoriented. Arguments ensued over healing the human caused injury, however the subject is stubborn. DT injections will be increased in dosage from this point on, the next four experiments are already lined up. _

 

Sans made a face. It was interesting, but certainly not fun to read from Gaster’s- this timeline’s Gaster, he quickly corrected himself- perspective. Sans set the experiment notebook down again and went to grab the personal journal before stopping to look at Gaster’s note journal. He  _ really  _ would rather ignore the journal, but... it might give him better insight on the space and time happenings that occurred.

It started out as a few miserable chuckles that dissolved into a fit of laughter. Man, this whole situation was messed. Up. Tears welled in his eyes and he held his ribs as he shook from the force of his laughter. This whole thing couldn’t really be real, right? He’d wake up at his desk and Dad would chastise him for sleeping on the job. They’d laugh it off with Alph and go home to eat dinner with Pap. He couldn’t even pretend it was laughter anymore as he tried to contain his wails. It was all hilarious. And pitiful. And miserable.

But, he was going to find a way back. He was going to figure out what had happened in the ‘lab accident’. Most of all, he’d get Gaster back. His Gaster. The lovable asshole of a father who knew just the buttons to push. The kind hearted guy who pushed every one’s limits, striving for  _ better _ . Who gave a damn what alternate Sans said?

He felt more  _ determined _ than ever.


	10. The Author of The Journal(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gravity falls is p good right? yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short hiatus after this one. school's kickin my and my beta reader's ass in. also sorry this is short??? promise the next will be longer after the lil break ;)

Sans had begun gathering what junk was worth his time while Papyrus was at school. He had a decent amount of scrap metal, but certainly not anything close to what he had when he built the machine with Dad and Alphys. Lying on his stomach on the floor, he had a stubby arm reaching as far as possible under the bed. There was something under there, it looked like a tightly rolled poster. Even though it was dark under the bed, it looked like it might be blueprints. He hoped it was for the machine, but there was no way to tell until he got it out. 

With a huff, he changed positions, pushing his body against the frame of the bed as he wiggled his fingers. Nothing. He pulled back and looked at the frame with a glare. There had been a point that he could have crawled under and gotten it, but those days seemed to have passed. His skull was just too big to squish under the frame. 

He changed angles a number of times before deciding to just get on top of the bed and reach for it through the crack between the mattress and the wall. It was a tight squeeze and he was thankful his hands weren’t as big as Pap’s. Not that Papyrus would have to reach between the wall and the bed to grab it, he could just reach under and pull it out. Sans internally cursed his height as he shifted his arm about. He winced at the uncomfortable squeeze against his elbow, but he could feel the paper  _ right _ at his fingertips. His arm wasn’t quite long enough to grab it or push it away from the corner, he realized with an annoyed groan.

The position was making his shoulder ache and had proved ineffective, so yanked his arm out, only for his hand to catch on the bed frame. His face scrunched up, it wasn’t exactly painful, per say, just very very wrong feeling.  _ goddamn these holes and my height. i blame gaster.  _ Much more carefully, he pulled his hand the rest of the way out and rubbed the stretched palm with his other hand. That was a bad decision, he wouldn’t do it again.

Sans plopped back onto his butt on the bed, satisfied with the slight bounce he caused. The room was pretty bare (bones heheh) after his cleaning, few things remained after Papyrus stole most of his clothes to wash. He made a mental reminder to change clothes before the kid got home, he was still wearing the fluffy sweater and jeans from yesterday.

Focusing back on his task, he slid off the bed. He needed something long, something to nudge the blueprints with. Summoning a bone could destroy the paper, so he decided against it. He didn’t want risk using one of the journals, but it might have worked… Entering the living room, he looked up at the clock. It was noon, he had a while before Pap was due home.  _ Technically _ he was supposed to be on rest, but a visit to the dump couldn’t hurt, right? They had all sorts of long things there. It couldn’t hurt to flex his magic either. Sans slid on the sneakers from the day before. They looked like they could stand up to the water alright; wouldn’t keep his feet from being soaked, but it would do for now.

He couldn’t help grinning a little brighter as his magic swelled around him. It was always nice to let some magical build up go, and for whatever reason he had a lot in reserves at the moment. Moving a bit quicker, he stepped forward to enter the kitchen and shortcutted, visualizing the dump as he had many times before. When he opened the rift to shortcut a sense of pure dread hit him. It was disorienting, his eyes shot open only to be faced with a very distorted version of Gaster. His body was as black as the void around it, only occasionally shimmering to show it had its own form. 

“ _Ohhh, how interesting. The brave little Sans is back. Though, he isn’t as little as before, hmm?”_ Sans wilted back, he recognized the voice, but hadn’t been able to decipher the face before. The void creature. “ _Don’t give me that look-”_ This Gaster was oh so amused by the situation. Sans couldn’t help wincing at the phrase, it was too familiar to the Gaster from alt Sans’s memories. “ _we have met before, in several ways.”_ He snickered at Sans, who was a little dumbstruck. Was this just the alternate Gaster, or was this also his father? If their timelines had merged, then shouldn’t also be his dad?

“dad…?” The question was quiet and cautious. Gaster’s body rippled, confusion and confliction crossing his face before settling into a twisted sort of smirk.

“ _ I see. We didn’t know what all you would remember, perhaps more than I anticipated.”  _ He paused to regard Sans with intrigue. “ _ Your father is indeed battling for control of this form. He is failing. I am very much curious if you remember  _ me _ , though.”  _ Sans took a very sharp breath, trying to hold back his anger.

“more than i’d like to, that’s for sure.”

_ “Yes, I’m sure you’d prefer that weakling to be your only memories of the one called ‘Gaster’.”  _ He chuckled darkly at the anger crossing Sans’s expression. “ _ Well, I’ll let you get on with it. I will be paying you visits when I can, after all, there is much science to be done yet.” _

_ “ _ hate to break it to ya’ pal, but  _ i  _ don’t work for you. i don’t have any qualms going to asgore for help.”

“ _ From what? The omnipotent creature in your nightmares? They’ll think you’re crazy.”  _ The distortion in Gaster’s voice almost got sing songy there for a moment. Sans was tempted to flip him off. “ _ But I suppose I could always bother that brother of yours.”  _ Gaster’s body rippled in a much more agitated way, the grin falling from his face at the mention of Papyrus. Seeing the concern cross Gaster’s face, Sans didn’t waste time focusing on the dump. It was harder to get into the mindset of persuading himself he was already there with a potential threat before him, but it worked nonetheless.

Sans only opened his eyes when he felt his shoes fill with cool water and heard the gentle sloshing of trash against the cave walls. With a heavy sigh he looked around, suddenly feeling exhausted. Well, no more shortcuts for a while. He didn’t want to think about what could have happened in the void, so instead he got to work looking around.

Quite quickly, he realized bringing a bag would have immensely helpful. There was a lot of good stuff, but most of it was too big to really take with him. He picked out some long things, a skateboard missing its wheels, a long pipe resembling a spear(someone had to have sharpened that there’s no way it just showed up that way, the leg of a chair, and more. He piled them up to decide on later before searching through some tech he’d grab to dismantle. There was no telling exactly what he’d need, but if he could grab some stuff to get started it would be better than nothing.

He rounded a pile of garbage and let out a very childish yelp. Before him stood Alphys in casual wear, a rare sight indeed(she never took off her lab coat), sifting through garbage. She let out a responsive screech as well and jumped up from her pile.

“S-sans?” She asked, holding a hand over her chest. He felt bad for scaring her, but seeing him didn’t really seem to put her at ease.

“in the not-so-flesh. ‘sup alph?” Sans grinned at her brightly, relieved. She may not be the Alphys he knew but she was alive and well.

“U-uh... Not m-much? Y-you’re awake again?” Alphys shuffled awkwardly away from him. “I d-didn’t know y-you hung out h-here...” Sans began feeling worried, she wasn’t exactly acting friendly.

“oh, i don’t, not really, just needed some stuff.” To prove his point he began searching next to her, it seemed to put her at ease. “and yeah, just a week ago. i’m supposed to be resting but, uh, i won’t tell if you don’t.” He winked at her and she chuckled, relaxing before continuing her search as well. “you hang out here?”

“It is m-my element.” She shrugged, not looking at him. Sans searched for another moment before letting out a sigh. This was not the normal way she acted, maybe a little self berating but never so nervous.

“hey, alphys,” Alphys went rigid, pausing, “i don’t know if something happened to make you not like me or something. i, uh, lost a lot of memories while i was out. it’d be cool you could fill me in.” 

“O-oh, uhmm...” She spent a long moment just sitting there before finally making eye contact with Sans. “What all d-do you remember? About w-working with me, and, er, G-gaster?” She squeaked out the last part like Sans would change his mind at the name and yell at her.

“not a lot. i remember the experiments...” He spent a moment staring at the holes in his hands again. “i don’t have many memories of us working together, to be honest.” It wasn’t a total lie, he didn’t have any memories of them working together from  _ this  _ timeline. Carefully, she nodded and turned back to pick at the trash.

“That’s probably g-good... I’m s-surprised you woke up a-again. Falling down from d-depression usually doesn’t j-just cure itself.” Her pause let the soft echoes of water dropping and the rustle of trash surround them. It really was peaceful here, despite it literally being a dump. “W-when we worked f-for Gaster, he uh, he did experiments o-on you, l-like you remember. I w-wasn’t experimented on like y-you...” Alphys continued talking, but Sans could no longer hear her, deep in a memory.

 

Chapter 11 The Main Event:

 

_ Sans sat at his desk, leaning his chin in his hands as he listened to Gaster rattle off behind him. The man had just finished a meeting with the king, most meetings left the doc in an angry stupor but he really was furious this time. _

_ “-fucking intern! Are you fucking kidding me? I already have to babysit you!” Gaster flung his hand out to gesture to Sans who didn’t bother responding. “Despite being a brat,  _ you’re _ at least some of use to me. There’s no way this intern can be a part of the experiments, a kid with a promising future? Parents?”  _

_ “wow, dings, really making me sound shitty there.” Sans grumbled mostly to himself. It wasn’t like he was unaware of why Gaster had been so willing to give him the position. ‘Mutually beneficial’ his bony ass. _

_ “There’s a reason I offered you this position  _ Subject One. _ ” Gaster sneered at the nickname, returning the comment with one of greater insult. The designation made Sans visibly flinch. The reaction seemed to be what Gaster had been looking for since he turned away from Sans while still grumbling to himself. _

_ “look on the bright side, you get ta’ pick ‘em.” The doctor let out a heavy sigh. _

_ “It is not a soothing thought, but at least I won’t have to be stuck with another brat. I can choose someone more... Obedient.” Gaster was still turned away from Sans, so the assistant stuck out a conjured tongue. Obedient Sans was not. _

 

_ For a few weeks Sans was mostly relieved of his boss’s presence while he looked for a suiting intern. When he was in the office he was more insufferable than usual, complaining about all the students he’d met. It even ended in him occasionally complimenting Sans on not being an entirely unbearable monster. It was the end of the month when Sans had been in the office on time, per usual, when the door clicked open just as he sat down. It wasn’t the tall, overbearing presence of Gaster that stood at the door, but a small, vividly yellow lizard monster. She looked somewhere between excited and terrified. _

_ “... who are you?” His voice came out slightly more rude than it probably should have, but he wasn’t fond of strangers poking around the documents in here. _

_ “u-uhm. Alphys, sir! I-I’m the n-new intern...?” The corners of her mouth turned up in a nervous little smile. Sans could only stare. A stutter, the nervous attitude. The poor girl wouldn’t last a minute against Gaster’s real personality. The atmosphere grew tense when Sans didn’t respond, but it wasn’t long until Gaster stepped in behind her. _

_ “Sans, it’s rude to stare. Haven’t I taught you better?” Gaster stepped around Alphys and moved toward his desk, prompting her to follow as a second thought. Sans just let out a heavy sigh. Maybe the intern would get along with the other scientists and leave quickly. No one that actually knew Gaster would blame her. “Sans,” his attention snapped back over to Gaster, “this is Alphys. She will basically just do desk work for now, but maybe she’ll get to take part in experiments later down the line.” If it were possible for bones to pale, he knew his would have. As it was, his white pupils disappeared from sight. Gaster flicked him lightly on the head and coughed, he still hadn’t introduced himself to Alphys. He grit his teeth and held out a hand. No need to take this out on her, she was just some kid stuck in a similar situation to him. _

_ “names sans, sorry if i spooked ya, ‘m not used to seeing even the other scientists in here.” Alphys’s smile brightened as they shook hands. He hoped she’d get out before she was forced to participate in the experiments. _

“Sans?” Alphys stared at him with concern, reaching out a clawed hand to touch his shoulder lightly.

“mmhm?” Sans asked, blinking a bit. “oh, sorry. i just get flashes of memories sometimes.” He gave her an apologetic smile and she returned it with a suspicious look.

“Ok. Well I was just s-saying that even though I wasn’t experimented on, he d-didn’t exactly leave me o-out either...” Sans felt a flare of anger.

“he didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Alphys seemed to be surprised by his anger for her, and she smiled just a bit before shaking her head.

“No, no. I mean, h-he offered but n-never more than a joke, really. I m-meant that h-he uhm, sometimes m-made me h-help him... W-with your experiments...” She trailed off, looking away again. Sans felt realization hit him; Alphys didn’t hate him, she felt  _ guilty. _ He laughed and patted her on the back.

“that’s all? it’s fine alph, i forgive ya’. ‘s not like you wanted to any more than i did.” The relief on Alphys’s face was overwhelming, she looked like she might cry. Before answering she sniffled, clutching a CD case she found tightly. 

“R-really? That’s n-not what you said b-before...” Sans looked really confused.

“what did i say?”

“U-uhm... That y-you never w-want to s-see me again.” Alphys put the CD into her bag and continued rummaging. Sans had stopped looking all together and stared down at his hands.

“i think old me was an asshole.” He spoke quietly, frustrated. These weren’t the relationships he had spent time building up. He missed the somewhat carefree Alph, the one who excitedly showed him science and spoke passionately about the things she loved. Alphys gasped at Sans's harsh tone.

“D-don’t so hard on y-yourself, you w-went through a l-lot with the h-human and your p-parents...”

“... my parents?”

“W-when the orange s-soul human k-killed them...?” Alphys gave him a much more concerned look. That’s not the kind of thing you forget. Sans stopped completely and sat back on the ground, staring at the pile of trash in front of them with blank eye sockets. “Sans?” He didn’t respond. “S-sans? You’re s-scaring me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cliffhanger? sorry not sorry


	11. The Main Event

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh happy skeleton brothers anyone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sorry this isn't actually the end of the hiatus BUT
> 
> I had this written and its kinda a little mid way gift, SCHOOL IS ALMOST OUT OK THEN I'LL WRITE ALL THE TIME.
> 
> Check out my lovely beta-reader belzarvie.tumblr.com and me at undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com

_This flashback was different than the others. Sans felt a rush of fear and uncertainty the moment he entered it. He was felt an odd sense of loss, something he hadn’t felt in years. The underground was very limited, especially with a gift like teleportation. The feeling didn’t seem to be due to his surroundings, though. Emotionally Sans felt unstable, like he might cry or scream or just, burst out magic without meaning to._

_He stared up at the large, familiar man before him. The king. Sure, Sans had seen and heard of Asgore Dreemurr before, the man frequented the school and his parents worked for him, but Sans had yet to personally meet the king. It didn’t soothe the situation’s tension. They sat in the throne room, calming hot tea sat before each of them while outside the human continued their rampage through the underground. Sans took a breath, glancing up at the king. Deep worry lines had settled into Asgore’s brow, every time he began to say something he stopped himself._

_“There is no easy way to go about this.” The man admitted with a deep sigh. His voice was gentle but reluctant, and it made Sans all the more tense. He had already predicted what the news was. It didn’t make it any easier. “Casualties of war get no easier to explain as time goes on, my child.” Sans felt his heart jump to his throat as he restrained himself to just a choked sob. He and Papyrus had been alone for two days at this point, no sign of the iron clad skeletons he loved dearly. Admittedly, he hadn’t been a great brother over those days, desperately searching for their parents anywhere he could think of. Sans was thankful Papyrus was safe in bed at home, the six year old didn’t need to know the details of this. While he had suspected that this was the case when everyone was buzzing about the human passing through Hotland, he had still held out hope that they were just evacuating others and crazy busy._

_There was no more of that hope in that throne room as he sat before the king._

_“did...” Sans paused, feeling the tears start to fall despite his best attempts, his words stalled in his throat. Even when his voice returned it was shaky, uneven with the effort he put in to keep it as level as possible. “did they fight?” The king’s expression fell._

_“They did, valiantly. Their intervention gave us time to evacuate a lot of monsters.” The silence that fell between them was interrupted only by the sharp intakes of breath as Sans tried to cry as quietly as possible. It made Asgore want to say something, but he remained silent behind his cup of tea. The semi-peace was broken when a guard burst in, the door slamming against the wall unceremoniously._

_“They human has breached the palace, they’re on their way here now.” They spoke hurriedly, panicked. Asgore calmly looked up at the guard._

_“Very well. Please take this child with you and evacuate to safety.” There was authority in Asgore’s voice, and without hesitation the guard moved toward Sans._

_“What of you my lord?”_

_“I will remain here to protect the barrier. Tell Gerson to prepare in the judgment hall.” Sans grit his teeth as the guard picked him up. He felt the need to struggle, or more accurately like he should_ want _to struggle, but he didn’t. Numbness was most of what he felt, though tears still fell from his face. It was hard to grieve when the threat of death was so near. Much to the Guard’s surprise, Sans weighed practically nothing and was quite easy to carry as they moved. With a burst of energy, more for show than anything, Sans did begin to struggle in the guard’s grasp as they carried him down the hall, the only noise between them was the hard clanking of armor and Sans’s sobs. They moved quickly, the guard was running down the orange lit hall. They had almost exited to the hall between new home and the judgement room when they came to a sudden halt. The pause was achingly tense and they there stood for a long moment. Instead of being set down carefully, Sans was thrown to the side harshly, skidding across the floor. He heard metal on metal contact behind him, as he slid._

_Sans gasped for his winded breath before turning to stare at the guard in irritation. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of the human standing before the guard with their weapon raised. The guard didn’t look over to him, concentrating on the human._

_“stop! if my parents didn’t stand a chance then you don’t either!” Sans shouted in a panic. They should run! Escape! The guard either didn’t hear him or didn’t care, and the battle continued for only a few moments before they were struck by a bullet and their HP fell to nothing Sans watched in horror as the guard unceremoniously fell to dust, armor hitting the floor with a metallic clatter soon after. He stared at it for a long time, silently thanking the ashes for trying to save him before the human turned their attention to him. They looked sad, like this wasn’t what they wanted, but they certainly weren’t stopping either. Sans felt anger overwhelm his sadness as he stood, magic welling within him._

_In a blaze of blue magic, a new battle started. The human had most of their HP, the guard hadn’t done much damage. There were no witty quips, no talking at all. Only fighting. This was a revenge battle that the human was losing. They danced for a very long time and while Sans was numb he was doing a good job whittling down the human’s insane amount of health. It became quite clear who the winner was going to be as Sans approached his final attack. He heard a voice behind him as he stared at the options before him, as if he really had a choice._

_“Don’t do it, kid.” Sans vaguely recognized the voice as Gerson’s, but he couldn’t care less. The words almost made him pause before hitting FIGHT, but he knew they belonged to the old tortoise who had no one left to lose. He couldn’t understand how Sans felt, if he let the human go now, what would stop it from killing his bro? Gerson? The king? It had already killed too many who had shown him kindness. Gerson had gotten his fill of human fighting, there was no way the old tortoise had the intent needed to kill. Sans was more than eager to take this threat out once and for all._

_His decision was made and he sent an unfair amount of bones at the blue soul before him. It seemed to pause for just a moment, the human pausing to take a breath just as Sans flung the final blow at the human. They panicked, seeing it coming for only a split second and took the chance to throw their weapon at him. Pain exploded behind his right eye socket that echoed throughout his head and he dropped along with the now barely breathing human. The blow wasn’t quite enough to diminish his lone hp, but it certainly refreshed his anger. With a rush of adrenaline, he poured the rest of his magic into the bones piercing the human. Anger and revenge were the sole driving forces in this action, with every intent to kill he could muster, the human’s breaths ended in a gurgle of blood._

 

 _Sans gasped as the memory faded out and was met with two familiar figures in an empty space. They smiled at him, it pained him to realize_ he _didn’t recognize them, it was the alternate Sans’s memories. His heart filled with grief looking at the skeletons, despite feeling little actual connection to them. One was tall and gangly, his face nearly a dead ringer for Papyrus. The other was softer, rounder, and though it didn’t look exactly like himself, he could see the resemblance._

 _He could only stare. In a way this felt wrong, like he was interrupting something private, but something about it also felt right. His emotions felt split in two as he stared at his supposed parents. No, Gaster was his dad. Just visualizing the word ‘dad’ made his mind flood his thoughts with more memories, forcing the gentle childhood with no experiments, no science, no_ Gaster _upon him. Sans felt like he was drowning, desperately trying to hold on to his original timeline. For once it truly felt like his memories were his, it was painful. When the grief of the loss of his parents hit him he barely contained a sob. He didn’t even have a personal connection to them. Sans desperately tried to separate himself from the memories. These were pieces of alternate Sans grieving, he could feel it, it wasn’t him. He would find his timeline and everything would be fine._ _  
_ _The white space of wherever he stood shook at the thought, rejecting it. Sans stared up and around him, anything to avoid thinking. Everything was overwhelming. Grief, anger, and depression seemed to be all alternate Sans was comprised of, but Sans could have guessed that from his memories. It was a lot harder to live through it as the emotions crashed down upon him._

_Deep in his thoughts, he didn’t even notice a small figure appear and make its way toward him. The entire corner of his mind warmed up and filled with colors and vague shapes. Papyrus stood before him, his mind was muddled as to which Papyrus. He was just a child, couldn’t have been more than six. The small version of his brother was quite confident and walked right up to him and grabbed his hand._

_“Come, brother! Momma said to get you for dinner.” Sans was overwhelmed again by the warmth in the gesture. This memory, if you could call it that, was much calmer and soothing than the others. It wasn’t hard to understand that something wanted him to give in, to accept the life before him._

_“heh. ok bro.” Sans heard himself reply without making the decision to speak. Papyrus pulled him forward, the emptiness of wherever they were formed into a warm house scene. This, too, was recognizable in a weird way. The small Papyrus lead him into a kitchen where two skeletons far taller than him stood, making dinner._

_“Boys! Can you make the table? It’s nearly done.” A somewhat high pitched voice asked fondly. Still not directing his own actions, Sans nodded and followed Papyrus to a drawer. Sans didn’t fight the motions as Papyrus helped him prepare the table easily, as though they’d done it a hundred times before. He took a seat at the table, feeling dazed as the scene unfolded before him. Their father walked around the table and served them dinner one plate at a time._

_Sans looked around, trying to make sense of it through the pleasant fog of his thoughts. It wasn’t right, this place. This wasn’t a memory, it definitely wasn’t the void. A lucid dream? That wouldn’t make sense, he’d have more control of his actions. The dream seemed to be trying to soothe him into relaxing and forgetting. Forgetting his timeline. Forgetting his Gaster. It was so tempting to give in, but as he watched himself reach for the fork beside his plate he tried to gain control again._

_“Something wrong, bucko?” Sans felt a bony hand on his shoulder and resisted turning to look at his father- no, the strange skeleton._

_“nah.” He couldn’t stop the reply from leaving his mouth. Think, Sans. Think about your Papyrus, the little scamp. Think about dad, working in the lab with Alphys. Practicing magic with Asgore. What else? What was that experiment again-_

Stop. This is a good thing. This is you now.

_my name is comic sans gaster. this is not me._

It is.

_it isn’t!_

 

Sans came to, resisting the urge to jump up into a sitting position. _well shit._ He felt... drained. It didn’t help that he didn’t recognize the ceiling above his head or the hard ground beneath him. His clothes felt incredibly damp, a reminder of his visit to the dump. With urgency, Sans brought his hands up to his pockets, the lack of his loot weighing the pants down was disheartening.

He realized with a huff that he was becoming used to waking up from horrible memories,  This one was especially disheartening, just trying to think back on it made him want to  cry. It also explained a lot, he could feel depression crawling into his thoughts. It was frankly quite exhausting. Stars swam behind his eyes for a moment when he sat up, he could hear voices just outside whatever room he was in. As his vision cleared, encouraged by rubbing at his eye sockets, he saw that the only other monster in the room was a ghost who seemed to be pointedly not looking at him. Sans didn’t recognize them at all, but luckily the ghost didn’t seem to expect recognition.

“uhh, hey... mind telling me where i am?” Sans asked calmly. His shoulders slumped, just talking seemed to take a lot out of him. The ghost wavered awkwardly.

“... you’re in my house... on blooky farm... uhm... this is awkward...” They floated past Sans toward the door, “alphys brought you here... i’ll just... go.... get her............” Sans watched the ghost float pitifully out, sighing with relief when they were gone. The temporary relief was ruined when he heard the familiar shouts of his brother outside, making him panic slightly. There was no way Paps wouldn’t be freaked out about him leaving the house, even better, fainting while he was out, and frankly, he was far too exhausted to try to explain this stuff to him.

Sans laid back down at the thought, feeling the hard floor digging into his spine. The door creaked back open, Sans pretended he didn’t notice in order to try to rest a big longer. Unfortunately it didn’t even somewhat work, Sans felt familiar skeleton hands grab him under his arms and lift him up. Alphys- or at least he assumed it was her- gasped in surprise.

“P-papyrus, he may have gone back to sleep, y-you’ll wake him.”

“Of course not, Miss Scientist! When Sans sleeps his grin relaxes!” Papyrus gave him a bit of a shake, and Sans reluctantly opened an eye at him.

“hey bro.”

“SANS! The doctor told you not to leave the house yet. You were supposed to rest.” Papyrus practically _pouted_ at him, Sans couldn’t hold back a snicker at the expression.

“aw jeez, sorry bro. i needed something from the dump.” It wasn’t hard to tell Papyrus wasn’t satisfied with this answer, but it would do for now. The younger gave Sans a once over before placing him on his back, reflexively Sans swung his arms around Papyrus’s neck and relaxed. When had his brother gotten so big, holy cow. Sans wasn’t complaining, though, less work for him. He began to half doze, Papyrus holding onto his legs with a sturdy grip.

“U-uhm, I’ll s-see you later Sans.” Tiredly, Sans nodded and waved before they walked out of the ghost’s house. The path was pretty clear back to Hotland from there, but just as they were about to enter the tall, soggy grass Sans jumped.

“wait! paps!” Sans tightened his hold on his brother from the lazy grip to right by his where brother’s ear would be if he had them. Papyrus stopped and turned his head back to regard his brother, worried by the panicked tone in his voice.

“Yes Sans?”

“do we have alphys’s number? how else will i talk to her again?”

“Oh! Good point, brother! We must make sure we can get in touch with your new friend again soon!” Eagerly, Papyrus began trotting back toward the ghost’s house. Alphys was just leaving and looked surprised to see them again.

“Miss Scientist friend! Do you have a cell phone?”

“H-huh? Oh y-yeah, Sans sh-should have my n-number in his phone already.” Sans blinked absently, confused.

“i have a phone?” Both Papyrus and Alphys gave him a concerned look at the question.

“It is probably dead by now, you lazybones. We’ll call soon, Alphys!”

“see ya’ alphie.” Sans spoke groggily, already burying his face into Papyrus’s back again. Had he been looking to his previous coworker, he would have noticed a bright blush and confused expression, but the brothers were already on the road again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DO YOU LIKE MY WRITING?
> 
> DO YOU CRAVE BABYBONES AUS?
> 
> DO YOU NEVER GET ENOUGH OF TINY SAD SKELETON BROS?
> 
> WANNA KNOW WHERE I'VE BEEN?
> 
> Check out my new fic, http://archiveofourown.org/works/6758704/chapters/15446401 ! please im so excited about it and like??? There is soooo much in store for it SO MUCH.


	12. Grounded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SANS! Take care of yourself :(  
> (he won't)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS SCHOOL'S OUT YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? MORE WRITING TIME HELL YEAH.
> 
> That being said, have some fluff!
> 
> undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com  
> and beta reader at belzarvie.tumblr.com

Papyrus gently jostled him as they moved, ensuring Sans still had a solid grip on his back. If Sans had been on the ground, he would be running- curse his short legs!- but Papyrus was managing their pace at a comfortable walk. Sans observed the walls flying by while waiting patiently for Papyrus to say something. The urge to fall asleep was only increasing, but he tried to stay awake, concerned about the slight tension between them.

“Why were you at the dump?” His brother’s tone wasn’t accusing, simply curious. Sans murmured out a response that wasn’t even loud enough he could hear it himself. “Hm?” Papyrus hummed questioningly, patiently. 

“needed somethin’ long. couldn’t reach.” It sounded silly when he mentioned it like that, and apparently Papyrus thought so as well since he let out a chest shaking laugh.

“Nyeh hehe hehe. Brother, you could have waited until I was home!”

“didn’ wanna bother ya’.” Sans readjusted his grip around his brother’s neck and they fell back into a more comfortable silence. It was strange to be in silence at all with his brother around. Not that he didn’t appreciate the comfort, but it was odd for Papyrus to not to be bursting out his thoughts every other second. The younger brother seemed deep in thought, but eventually spoke.

“It wouldn’t bother me.” His tone was soft, nearly a whisper, very uncharacteristic of him. Sans lifted his head to look at the back of his brother’s.

“huh?”

“It wouldn’t bother me if you asked for help.” Papyrus spoke with more confidence that time, and Sans let out a surprised noise that half resembled a sob. His brother wasn't just talking about the bed, and something about the boy’s wisdom hit him hard. Man he’d been a shitty brother. Bordering on tears once again that day, he rested his face against his brother’s back. He sniffled hard and Papyrus came to a stop, moving Sans from his back to his front before continuing. Sans didn’t protest, comfortable to just be carried. After gathering himself, at least to the point he wouldn’t cry, Sans grinned up at Papyrus.

“when’d you become so cool, paps?”

“Nyeheheh! I’ve always been this cool, brother!”

“that’s true.” This time, Sans had no qualms falling asleep in his brother’s arms, faintly remembering the times where it was the other way around.

_________________________________

 

When Sans woke again he had been plopped onto the couch haphazardly, thankful for the lack of dreams for once. He was given a few moments of peace before the memories of the dead human came back full force, and he nearly choked on air. This alternate Sans, his actions, his feelings, they contrasted so harshly with his own. He could feel guilt from it, but it was not nearly as powerful as the overwhelming sense of “they deserved it”. It made him feel sick. Then again, that could also be the slightly burnt smell wafting out of the kitchen. Sans slid off the couch and dragged himself into the kitchen, smile brightening at the sight of Papyrus humming and cooking.

“hey paps.” Sans grinned as Papyrus jumped slightly and turned, seemingly happy.

“Hello! Dinner is almost ready!” The skeleton undid the apron around his waist and reached for a cord plugged into the wall beside his cooking set up. “I found your phone! I hope you don’t mind I charged it for you.” Papyrus almost looked nervous as he handed Sans his phone.

“ ‘course not, bro. i appreciate it.” Sans responded before taking his seat at the table. He stared blankly at the device, it lit up when he hit the power button but stopped at the prompt to enter the passcode, “uhhh, you wouldn’t happen to know my password, would you?”

“No, you did not want me to know. You always managed to forget though, you lazy bones! Pick a code and stick with it.” Papyrus grumbled, annoyed by the secretive nature of his brother. Sans gave him an apologetic smile as he tapped out a few possibilities. It was a four character password, could be numbers, could be letters.

He tried “Paps” first. It didn’t work, not that he really expected it to. Next he tried “Alph”, no such luck. Maybe it was a date? What date could be so crucial? While he wracked his brain he didn’t notice Papyrus’s concerned stare.

“Brother?” He asked, worriedly.

“hm?” Sans went back to fiddling, typing in anything he could think of.

“Do you not have any idea? I know what a few of them were at different points.”

“that might help a bit, yeah.”

“Well! The first one I knew was “Papp” with two p’s on the end because I was very flattered you thought I was so cool.”

“oh, let me try that, i tried “Paps” already.” That seemed to brighten Papyrus up quite a bit.

“The others were just numbers.” Pap shrugged, but it gave Sans an idea. There were lots of numbers in his journals, experiment numbers, experiment dates, other dates... He sighed in annoyance and Papyrus gave him a somewhat sad look.

“thanks anyway, bro.” Sans was unaware of just how disappointed he looked, only noticing when he looked up to see his brother’s frown.  _ damn. gotta get better at not showing that.  _ He quickly brightened back up to a smile and gestured to... Whatever was boiling over in the pot. “what’s for dinner?”

“More soup!” Papyrus quickly turned back to the pot at the mention of it, jumping when the liquid poured over the top and onto the stove. With a slight groan, he pushed the pot off the heating part of the stove and began working on it again. Sans tried not to pay attention, he didn’t know much about cooking but he knew that this certainly was not a good method. Eh, it made his bro happy though. His mouth seemed to beg for a good ol’ greasy burger from Grillby’s right about then. Preferably slathered in ketchup. The thought brought his magic to his mouth, forming a tongue in anticipation.

He’d probably visit it for lunch tomorrow. That is, if he could work around his brother’s puppy dog stare begging him to stay home. Papyrus set a bowl in front of him, the broth was nearly black with floating burnt bits in it. Sans grinned at him and picked up a spoon, dismissing the tongue that had formed to cope with the soup.

“thanks paps!” He eagerly dug in, despite his own exhaustion. They ate in mostly silence before it occurred to Sans that he hadn’t even asked his brother about his day. He went to school... What grade was he in again? After downing his bowl, he settled his stare on the slightly slouching Papyrus. “hey, bro, what grade are you in now?”

“I’m in 10th grade now! We’re at the end of the year, though, so I am nearly in 11th!” Papyrus straightened his posture quickly before eagerly answering. Sans was happy to see his brother so excited about school, but the grade completely threw him off. The doctor had told him he was 17, but wouldn’t that make Paps 12 or 13...? Mark that for a big timeline difference.

“so you’re 14 now?” Dang, a full three years older than his Papyrus? No wonder he was so responsible- not that his Papyrus wasn’t, it just seemed like this one was a bit more put together despite his circumstances.

“15, brother! My birthday was a month ago.” Papyrus stated proudly. Make that four years older. Sans gasped in faux horror, standing suddenly, causing concern to fall over his brother’s features. “What? Is something wrong?” 

“i missed my baby bro’s fifteenth birthday? we have to have another celebration!” Sans frowned almost with a slight pout. At least it hadn’t been his sixteenth, that was a special one for some reason. Papyrus laughed at him, 

“Nyeh! I am never opposed to a day to honor the Great Papyrus.” He paused. “We should probably get the cake from Muffet’s, though. Last time was a disaster.” Sans stared at him blankly, confused. Had they tried to make a cake before? The only times he could remember were as kids in Gaster’s lab... Those were most definitely not edible. Papyrus seemed to read his confusion and smiled sadly at him.

“When we made a cake for mom’s birthday...? It was such a mess, nyeheheh.” Oh. Sans realized it was an alternate Sans’s memory and his heart ached for a moment, unable to recall the story Papyrus was asking about.

“sorry bro, i’m sure more of my memories will come back over time.” Sans could feel his grin threaten to twitch downward and he rubbed at his ribs awkwardly, uncomfortable with the grief and strange nostalgia. Papyrus just nodded to the older as he finished up his dinner and Sans dropped his bowl in the sink before heading back to his room.

Looking at his room- now mostly barren-, it hit him how unfamiliar everything felt and just how much he missed  _ his _ room. He wondered briefly if Papyrus would be opposed to moving to Snowdin when they got the chance. Would Sans even be able to afford their old house? Gaster had been the Royal Scientist, surely it would be above his pay grade. The train of thought reminded him of the money he had saved up from his two ‘jobs’ back home. It was quite a lot, he never really had a whole lot to spend it on other than Grillby’s. Plus, he had always liked the idea of having some extra cash in case something bad happened.

Heh. Something bad did happen, and he didn’t have a clue whether or not he had saved money in this timeline. Sans went to change out of the slightly damp clothes, shivering a bit at the cool air of his room. It wasn’t like the underground had banks, most people just kept their saving money in shoe boxes or safes or any number of somewhat “secure” places. He could ask Papyrus? Though Sans felt bad revealing how much the alternate Sans had hidden from him, and having a stash of money that Paps could have been living on while he was out would probably annoy even the most optimistic of monsters. Sans rifled through his closet, throwing on another warm, fleece sweater. How strange, if they lived so close to the CORE why would he have such warm clothes? It wasn’t like the temperature could do anything more than cause a slight discomfort, but it still struck him as odd. Maybe Gaster had required them for uniforms? 

He shrugged, there were too many far more important questions to worry about. The closet had a shelf just out of his line of sight, but he could tell that something was on it. He flung a hand up to root around on the shelf and much to his relief, it knocked into a box with a loud metallic clunk.  _ guess alternate me did _ something  _ right _ , he thought bitterly. What surprised Sans was the weight of the box as he weakly pulled it to the edge of the shelf to bring it all the way down. This was... Much more than he had saved in his own timeline. Once it was down, he saw a small list on the top. It had priorities listed out and numbered. At the top was “Food and Utilities (AC!!!)” followed by “Rent”, then directly under that was “Clothes for P”, “P- Giftmas”, and lastly was “Savings- House?”. Sans opened it, the box was filled to the brim with gold. There was plenty there to buy a house, get Pap an entirely new closet of clothes, and probably even buy a few nice figurines from the Capital for Giftmas. Relieved, he sighed.

Perfect, as long as Papyrus was cool with it they could get a house in Snowdin and live a lot less squished than they currently did. Sans pocketed a bit of the g just in case and shoved the box under the gross jackets next to his box of journals. He glanced at the journals for a moment. It occurred to him that it would probably be a good idea to read more, but the just the thought was terribly exhausting. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

“SANS! I FORGOT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOMETHING!” He couldn’t contain a chuckle at his brother’s enthusiasm, but he could tell this would probably not be a good thing. Sans opened the door to a somewhat startled Papyrus and walked out to the living room.

“ ‘sup bro?”

“Brother! You are supposed to be on rest.” Papyrus insistently tapped his foot, a pout clear on his face and Sans nearly groaned in response.

“aw c’mon paps i got bored.”

“Then do some puzzles! Or nap! Just don’t go out. What if you pass out in the water? Or in-”

“guess i’d be sleepin’ with the fishes then, heh.” Papyrus gave him a stern look that could only be rivaled by Gaster.

“This is serious!” He threw his hands up in frustration, Sans gave him an apologetic grin.

“sorry.”

“I don’t want to have to stay home, brother, can you  _ please _ promise me to take care of yourself?” Sans let out a huff of air. Promises didn’t come lightly to him, but Papyrus was pretty serious about this.

“i’ll try bro. don’t worry, i won’t end up in the hospital again.” He tried to keep his tone sincere and Papyrus seemed to buy it after a moment of consideration. The atmosphere of the room lightened as Pap sat down on the couch to flip through the television channels. Sans took that as his cue to sit with him, leaning against his taller brother contently.

“you finished up your homework?”

“Of course! You napped for quite a while.”

“mm, sorry bro.”

“It’s fine! You’re awake now!” Sans nodded in response, kicking lightly at his brother’s leg to prompt some sort of response. It took a few kicks before Papyrus really responded. He raised a brow bone at his older brother who returned the gesture with a slightly mischievous grin. Unfortunately, Papyrus turned right back to the television after that, and Sans resulted to poking at his brothers ribs and under his arms.

“NYEH! S-SANS!” Sans laughed devilishly as he continued his tickle attack. The two tumbled off the couch as Papyrus tried to gain traction. He may have lost the battle but he would win the war! “YOU’RE IN FOR IT NOW, BROTHER!”

“paps wait-hehehe eehheh.” Sans broke out into ridiculous giggles as Papyrus tickled him back. The attack didn’t last long. They were both a bit tired, and eventually Sans just laid on the floor. Papyrus, though hesitating at the laziness of the act, eventually joined him.

“... Our ceiling is gross!!” Papyrus’s face scrunched up at the sight of the ceiling. It wasn’t too bad, but it had water stains from the tenants above them and the white was pretty discolored in places.

“welp. i can’t reach it to clean.”

“You don’t clean!” Papyrus spoke, an annoyed sort of affection gracing his tone.

“hey. i just cleaned my room yesterday.”

“I suppose that’s true. How long had it been before that, though?!” Papyrus glared at their mess of a ceiling and Sans snickered.

“at least a year.” The younger brother huffed.

“Not funny.”

“it was kinda funny.” The two ended up falling asleep on the ground, for once Papyrus before Sans. It gave him time to think, as much as he wanted to push things off he really couldn’t. Tomorrow he would start building the machine. Jeez, where would he even do it? He’d have to settle for his room, he supposed.

But that was tomorrow. For now, he had some serious cuddling to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey thanks for all your guys' support on this comments and kudos and stuff really keep me encouraged in my writing c: this all is a lot of fun and tbh this fic has a bit of a ways to go until we're done but i appreciate you guys keepin' up with it!!


	13. Grocery Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im dead inside. ur dead inside. sans sure as hell is dead inside, but hey, he's more productive than i am lmfao

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hAHAHAHAHAAAAAA  
> you all thought i was dead didn't you  
> anyway im back from camp u guys ready for some fucking lowkey sansby cuz i sure as fuck am

The next day Sans woke up on the floor with a dull ache in his back. It was early morning, since apparently naps were all he did anymore. He pulled himself up and cracked his back with a satisfied sigh. It was 3 in the morning as their clock on the wall read, and Papyrus was still napping beside him on the floor. Doing his best to keep his magic steady, he picked Papyrus up with blue magic to carry him to his bed. The younger brother likely wouldn’t be asleep much longer, but he felt bad just leaving him on the floor like that.

After dropping Pap odd in his room, Sans ran a hand over his face and made his way back to his own bedroom. The mental checklist for what he needed to even start on the machine seemed  _ endless _ . First of all, though, he needed a makeshift table. The bed frame could do, he decided. It took a bit to get the mattress down and throw it to the corner. In the process he realized he could reach the elusive blueprints through the slats of the bed and was finally able to drag them out. He felt kinda dumb for not trying more things like that before, but it wasn’t like his trip to the dump was useless. His jacket was still weighed down by waterlogged electronics, it would be a pain to figure out what parts worked in each device on top of which parts he would need.

Man, did he felt tired all of a sudden. Why was there so much work to do? How could he possibly finish this? It had taken him, Gaster, and Alphys  _ years _ to get one machine put together, and even then it hadn’t worked. Just staring at his new makeshift table brought on an intense overwhelming feeling of doubt. Sans flopped back onto the ground, nauseous with hopelessness. He couldn’t remember anything, he couldn’t do anything, he didn’t know anything. There was a tightness in his throat.

He tried to push through the depressive episode and forced himself to pull the devices out of his jacket. Each tiny movement felt like he was dragging himself through sludge, weighed down by his emotions. The haul amounted to several cellphones in major need of an upgrade, mp3s. There was even a gameboy in there. Actually, Paps would probably like that one, so he set it aside to work on later.  _ more work... _ Finding his tools had been a bit of a task, like finding anything in that room it seemed, but not nearly as difficult as his other lost objects. They had been pushed against the corner under his bed frame, easy to overlook, but after snatching them and opening the box he was impressed to find it was a much more complete collection than he’d had in his own timeline. It was soothing to grip his trusty tools and begin prying apart the backs of the phones, a numb minded task to keep his hands busy. Satisfyingly destructive while also being productive, it was nice for a change.

_____________________________

  
  


Hours passed and Sans had completely lost track of time. Hundreds of different parts laid out in different carefully organized piles sat on the slats of the bed frame. He was going mostly on memory and the few times Alphys would explain the mechanics of the machine... Damn, he was absolutely going to need her help. That only added another level of stress, the girl seemed so anxious around him. He sighed deeply. Nothing was getting done when he was drowning in his woes, but he couldn’t seem to help it. The parts weren’t enough, not that he thought it would be, but he would most certainly have to go back to the dump and soon. He ran a hand over his head, completely forgetting the crack.

“ugh, fuck.” He winced at the pain prickling throughout his eye socket and pulled his hand back. Hadn’t the doc sent medicine home for him...? Oh shit, he hadn’t been taking that at all. So much for taking care of yourself. Tiredly, he pulled himself up and walked out to the living room. It was nearly seven, and the sounds of Papyrus showering echoed throughout the apartment. The kid wasn’t exactly quiet about his shower time tunes. Sans chuckled to himself and went to the kitchen. Sure enough, two small bottles sat on the counter marked with instructions. He winced, huffing as a flash of memory went through him again.

Ah, DT had been taken as pills for a while. Wasn’t that great. Sans rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation. Just thinking about swallowing the pills made him want to throw up. Maybe if he didn’t think too hard about it he could just... swallow them down. No biggie, just like any other medicine he’d taken back home. Yeah. Remember his own timeline, this Sans’s experiences weren’t  _ his _ . Quickly, he read the instructions and grabbed a pill from each container. Not wanting to waste any more time on this, he tossed his head back and went for the dry swallow. The pills caught against the fleshy conjured throat uncomfortably and he nearly threw up, gagging before forcing the pills down. A shudder went down his spine as he continued to swallow a few more times. Not doing  _ that _ again...

Papyrus walked into the kitchen then, fully dressed. He smiled at Sans as he passed on his way to the fridge, a look of satisfaction about him.

“Good morning, brother! You’re up early!”

“mhm, think i’ve been napping too much.” Sans shrugged absently and Papyrus gasped comically at the comment.

“I never thought I’d hear  _ you _ say that!”

“heh. me neither, paps.” The older brother pops himself up on the counter with a flop, letting his legs knock the cupboard below him.

“Well! Since you’re up, do you want to eat breakfast with me?”

“ ‘course, why else would i be up than to eat with my favorite bro?” Papyrus beamed at him and began getting out ingredients for breakfast. Whoo boy, it was going to be one of those mornings.

 

_____________________________

  
  


Eventually Papyrus left for school, and Sans was both a bit sad and relieved. Breakfast was a bit of a disaster, burned pancakes and almost crystallized syrup... He really should go grocery shopping on his way to Snowdin. There was that cute little shop that had crab apples in Waterfall, old Gerson was always nice, then the bunnies were always sweet, maybe he would even grab some nice cream for Pap! He practically hummed to himself as he changed into a fresh set of warmer clothes, even popping a few hoodies into the washer before leaving. They would be nice to wear again, the sweaters were getting itchy and uncomfortable.

Sans slipped his sneakers on by the door, happy they had mostly dried out overnight. They were still slightly damp but the walk to the river person would no doubt evaporate any lingering water out of them. Hotland was uncomfortable in snowdin clothes, even for a skeleton. Sans exited the apartment building with these thoughts, already feeling himself beginning to sweat a bit as he left Capital. He let his feet carry him through the sweltering place, amused when he came across the vents Papyrus so dreaded. Well, at least the boy had back in his own timeline. How could they possibly live so close to them? Sans snorted in amusement and let the things carry him over the big drops that led to magma. Yikes, he tried not to look down; it was a bit too deja vu.

He made it to the four way intersection between the lab, path to waterfall, and the river person’s stop far too quickly. His spine crawled when he looked at the building. The thing was the same from both his memories, even comparing passageways and halls, but this one seemed tainted. It took him a while to realize he had just been staring at the lab and he diverted his eyes before walking down to the river person.

“Care for a ride? Tralala.” Per usual, they didn’t glance to him or visually indicate they saw him at all, but spoke.

“yeah, waterfall, please.” Sans stepped in and waited patiently. The boat took off, and he stared at the back of the cloaked person’s head, waiting for their tid bit of wisdom. Gaster always seemed to dislike the ‘pretentious and sarcastic’ attitude of the river person, but Sans had never gotten those vibes. Maybe it had to do with growing up with the guy.

“Tra la la. Beware of the boy who came from the other world.” The words were careless as always, but Sans felt his soul stop, staring at the person. Did they know what had happened? How? Did they mean to beware of himself...? “We’re here!” They hummed happily after a few moments and Sans shakily stepped off of the boat.

“yeah, thanks...” He swallowed and began walking to Gerson’s shop. The river person was known for giving relevant and helpful advice, well, most of the time, and that tidbit didn’t seem to be a light suggestion. His thoughts were interrupted as he stepped up to the store, Gerson was eyeing him with a bit of surprise.

“Ain’t you supposed to be resting, son?”

“geez, not you too.” Sans sighed heavily. He wasn’t sure what relationship he had to Gerson in this timeline, but back home the monster was practically their grandfather, despite Gaster’s protests with the boys seeing him that way. Gerson laughed heartily at the response, and Sans grinned a little brighter.

“Everyone was real worried ‘bout you there for a while, kid, don’t make us worry again.”

“i turtle-y won’t.” The monster rolled his eyes at the pun.

“Anyway, you just here to visit or are ya’ gonna buy somethin’?”

“a dozen crab apples, please. pap’s been making food from scraps.” Sans can’t hold back a slight wince. He’ll eat the food his brother makes until the day he dies but it’s usually better if they at least have decent starting ingredients. Gerson nods and grabs Sans a bag of crab apples, and he hands over the proper amount of gold. Before he can leave, though, the monster lightly grabs his shoulder.

“Hey, do try to get better though, ‘kay kiddo? No need to shoulder this by yerself.” There was a knowing glint in his eye, but to what Sans wasn’t sure exactly. He just nodded slowly, before grinning brighter.

“that was a good one.” The boy snorted and glanced between the hand on his shoulder and Gerson, making the old tortoise laugh once again.

“Wa ha ha! It was p-unintended.”

“see ya’ around, gerson.” Sans gave him a solid grin and a nod before walking out.

It was a pleasant walk through waterfall. This time he didn’t stop at the dump, he didn’t want to get disgusting wading through the garbage and jostling food against trash in his inventory didn’t seem like a brilliant idea. He spent a long time just staring at the crystals in the ceiling of the cave, just as amazed by them as usual. Not a single one was out of place he realized, sitting down just to watch the ceiling. It was beautiful and peaceful, but reminded him of different times. When nostalgia began to set in he moved on. No use crying again. He made it to the little helpful bird and let them carry him over the water, he thanked it and continued his stroll through the quickly chilling caverns.

When his feet first hit snow he realized how much he’d missed the little biome he called home. His shoulders fell as he relaxed, and he tracked his way through the small, perpetual blizzard. The sight of the very first building- his old home- nearly forced him to cry. No lights hung from the building, it looked dreary and sad. He stepped up in front of it, just to stare. His face sunk into his sweater. The poor building looked like no one lived here, like no one ever had. He wondered vaguely if the Gaster of this timeline had bought the home. Maybe he wouldn’t even be able to buy the thing for him and Pap... His heart ached a little at the idea of never living in the home again.

“You like it?” Sans jumped at the sudden voice, head turning up to stare at whoever was talking to him. It was one of the bunnies, he recognised her as the one that ran the inn. She smiled kindly at him.

“mhm, my bro and i have been thinking about moving.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked back up at the house.

“Well, it’s been abandoned for years, it’s probably for sale.” Without seeing her face he could hear the interest in her voice. “Then again, it is rather large... Your brother you say?”

“yeah, my bro. he’s the coolest.” Sans sighed happily and relaxed his posture.

“Is he around? You seem to be out here alone.”

“nah he’s at school. i’m just gettin’ groceries and stuff.”

“Aw! How sweet.” The bunny patted him on the head lightly. It suddenly occurred to Sans that, once again, the bunny assumed he was the younger brother. He huffed lightly. Was this always going to happen? “Well, my sister runs a store if you want to stop by! The town is smaller than Capital and all, but it’s twice as charming.” She winks at him before walking off.

Man, he really needed a burger if he was going to have to re-meet everyone he’s known his entire life. Without even realizing Grillby wouldn’t remember him either, he let his feet carry him into town and straight to Grillby’s. The store looked the same as always, and Sans felt his grin relax and took a deep breath. This was home, even if his friends wouldn’t remember him. He pushed open the door and stepped inside. It was busy, he had managed to hit the lunch rush. The dogs sat in their usual places, the bunny was already drunk, the horse was leaning against the still broken jukebox, that bird was at the bar pretending to translate for Grillby. Yet, instead of no one blinking an eye at him walking in, everyone stared at him in interest. Especially Grillby, who stood behind the bar per usual. He walked up to his seat which was surprisingly empty, and sat down. It felt new, not worn in with his butt at all. The feeling was strange.

“Can I... get you something?” Grillby spoke calmly, but Sans read the amusement in his voice. Fuck! Again!? Everyone thinks he’s some kid that’s just wandered into town.

“burg and ketchup, please.” He rests his chin in his hand, staring back at Grillby.

“Sure.” The monster disappeared to the kitchen and the bird beside him was giving him an interesting look. He glanced at her and shrugged.

“you all seem frozen, figured in a place called grillby’s it would be heated. i suppose it is in snowdin, though.” A few snorts were given, he recognized them as from the dog couple, Dogaressa and Dogamy. “what? no funny bones?” He grinned broadly this time, confident and at ease. There was a lot he could get away with if these guys didn’t recognize him. The joke actually spurs laughter this time, among a few surprised looks.

“What’s a kid like you doing here?” The bird eventually asked, giving him an amused smile.

“well, i ordered a burger, so probably eating that.” He shrugged. “ ‘sides, i’m not really a kid. i mean, seventeen counts as a kid technically but, uh, probably not what you’re thinkin’.”

“No way! You’re not seventeen!” She gawks at him and he winks.

“yup, don’t tell grillbz- er, the bartender, though. it’ll be more fun this way.” The atmosphere of the bar seemed to have lifted completely, from somewhat cautious to laughing and eager chatting amongst the patrons. Any question the bird might’ve had was cut off by Grillby walking back into the bar with a burger and bottle of ketchup.

“thanks.”

“What brings you to Snowdin?” Grillby asks, watching Sans eat.

“my bro and i are gonna move here.” He hums happily, spraying copious amounts of ketchup onto his burger. A lot of attention seems to have drawn back to him, there’s a soft ‘ew’ sound from behind him when he sprays the bottle straight into his mouth.

“Oh?” The bartender pauses. Anyone who paid attention to the news had heard of the skeleton brothers, even if it had been several years, the two had captured monsters’ attentions for a long while. Orphaned kids, the elder had become a hero for a while, having defeated the human. The boy in front of him looked a lot like that boy, but somehow he seemed more familiar than that...

Sans grinned at Grillby. The elemental was staring at him, and he could see that he was working out who he was. How the monster knew him, he didn’t know. In this universe he definitely hadn’t had an interaction with him, at least not until now.

“You’re not a child, are you?”

“nah.” Sans takes another bite. It’s not his fault everyone assumed he was a kid, but he could certainly play off of it. The other customers in the room start laughing.

“Man, Grillby, observant!”

“Was he listening in on us?” The monsters dissolve into questions and amazement, but  Sans shrugs, but winks at Grillby. The fire poofs a little, and Sans cocks his head. That wasn’t a reaction he’d seen before. Interesting. Everyone seemed to not care too much about paying attention to him anymore now that the prank was up. He ate mostly in silence, but it was comfortable. It was nice to just observe, nothing really seemed different here, other than the lack of Papyrus, Gaster, and himself being mentioned.

“food was good.” He hums, watching Grillby clean a glass.

“Thanks.” The flame doesn’t look up to acknowledge the compliment. Sans snickers and finishes eating.

“how much do i owe you?”

“On the house... enjoy Snowdin.” Sans beamed at the monster and put away the gold. That was nice, it was rare that Grillby did that for anyone, better yet a new guy. If anything it would be put on a tab that most monsters put off paying for years.

  
It wouldn’t be until later that he flushed in realization. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi yes no promises for when the next chapter will be up. I have like, the whole thing planned out but who fckin knows if we'll get there i'm doing my best folks i swear.


End file.
